ChargePoint, the US-based operator of a network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, raised $50m today from investors including energy holding company Constellation Energy.
The round was led by energy-focused late-stage investment firm Linse Capital and included venture capital firm Braemar Energy Ventures. Constellation’s participation comes in the wake of a strategic partnership it formed with ChargePoint in September 2015.
Founded in 2007, ChargePoint now oversees an EV charging network of more than 28,000 independently owned stations across North America. It recently released a home charging product and charging services for apartment blocks.
Pasquale Romano, ChargePoint’s CEO, said: “This latest round of funding for ChargePoint underscores confidence in our business model, technology and the consumer confidence in the EV industry as a whole. It will allow us to scale to service the needs of future EV drivers and companies wishing to install EV charging in their parking lots.”
The round increased ChargePoint’s overall funding to $164m, and follows a $4m investment from Constellation Technology Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of energy group Exelon, in July 2014.
The company had raised $22.6m two months earlier from carmaker BMW, Siemens Venture Capital, which acts as industrial manufacturer Siemens’ corporate venturing subsidiary, Braemar, Rho Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and Voyager Capital.
ChargePoint, then known as Coulomb Technologies, also secured $47.5m in a 2012 round featuring Siemens Venture Capital; Hartford Ventures, the VC arm of insurance and investment group The Hartford; and Toyota Tsusho Corporation, a subsidiary of automotive manufacturer Toyota Group.
Linse’s limited partners include Statoil Energy Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of energy utility Statoil.