FreeWire Technologies, a US-based provider of electric vehicle (EV) charging technology, secured $125m in series D financing on Wednesday from investors including BP Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of oil and gas supplier BP.
Riverstone Holdings, Octave Ventures, Gly Capital Management, Blue Bear Capital, Daishin Private Equity and undisclosed others joined BP Ventures in the equity portion of the round while funds and accounts managed by BlackRock Financial Management supplied convertible note financing.
Founded in 2014, FreeWire has developed a rapid-charging device called the Boost Charger which it utilises in a network of EV charging stations.
Boost Charger is a battery-integrated system designed to work with low-voltage and low-power grid connections in order to function in areas without a strong electric grid, by storing energy to make greater amounts available for charging.
Arcady Sosinov, FreeWire’s founder and CEO, explained: “The most significant barrier to mass EV adoption is the electric grid, which simply cannot meet the power demand required for ultrafast charging to sustainably and cost-effectively electrify our transportation system.
“FreeWire’s fully integrated Boost Charger breaks down this barrier by combining battery technology, power conversion technology and software to enable utilities, retailers, fleets and site-owners across the US to scale up ultrafast EV charging quickly without requiring expensive and time-consuming utility upgrades.
In addition to lowering total operating costs, FreeWire’s integrated battery enables distributed energy services that would otherwise not have existed.”
The company is building a research and development hub in the Californian city of Newark and will put part of the financing into R&D as well as hiring and a planned expansion into new territories such as Canada, the UK, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Capital will also support the ongoing commercialisation of FreeWire’s product range. It intends to bring out an advanced version of its distributed energy management software later this year, while the launch of a charging-as-a-service option is scheduled for 2023.
The round valued FreeWire at $525m according to the Wall Street Journal, and it followed almost $100m in earlier funding, $50m of which came in a January 2021 series C led by Riverstone Holdings and backed by BP Ventures, Trirec, Energy Innovation Capital and Alumni Ventures Group.
BP Ventures was an existing backer, and the company’s earlier investors include ABB Technology Ventures, Stanley Ventures and Volvo Cars Tech Fund, subsidiaries of power and automation equipment producer ABB, tool manufacturer Stanley Black & Decker and carmaker Volvo Cars respectively.
Photo courtesy of FreeWire Technologies, Inc.
