To lead the global electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure into a future that optimizes energy transfer, and opens up new revenue streams and business models around charging EVs, EV Connect today announced that it has closed a $12 million Series B funding round. Lead investors, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Ecosystem Integrity Fund, are joined by other venture investors to support the global expansion of EV Connect’s flexible, open, cloud-based solutions to expand the world’s EV charging ecosystem. This funding round brings the total capital raised by EV Connect to over $25 million, with more than 6,000 connectors under contract.
In addition to taking an equity position in EV Connect, Mitsui has executed a commercial agreement to develop new business models around EV charging infrastructure, leveraging its global presence. Through its cloud-based software platform, EV Connect supports businesses and utilities in the optimization and management of EV chargers. Companies can use a wide range of charging hardware, as EV Connect employs the industry’s first charge station certification program based on international open standards and market-leading network flexibility and interoperability.
“We strongly believe that EV Connect’s infrastructure management technology accelerates the electric vehicle revolution in the energy and power industry where Mitsui has many assets and access to partners,” said Kazumasa Nakai, Chief Operating Officer of Infrastructure Projects Business Unit at Mitsui & Co., Ltd. “Our unique engineering capabilities, in conjunction with EV Connect’s cloud-based EV infrastructure, will enable us to develop new business models to solve the challenges EV infrastructure currently pose for energy management companies.”
EV Connect enables site owners, parking lot managers, fleet operators, and utilities to open up new business assets and revenue streams. The Company works with a large selection of charge station manufacturers for both Level 2 and DC Fast Chargers and serves customers such as Lockheed Martin, Dell, Electrify America, and EVIE Networks. For utilities like The New York Power Authority, DTE Energy, and Southern California Edison, EV Connect supports the optimization of EV charging infrastructure by providing key insights into EV charge stations to help protect grid assets through demand response management, monitoring utilization, and ensuring that capacity requirements are met. The EV Connect platform also delivers EV drivers real-time access to charging station status through the EV Connect driver smartphone app.
“The next phase of corporate environmental sustainability must be about making critical enhancements to some of the largest and most established industries in the world, making the economy cleaner, faster and more efficient,” said Devin Whatley, managing partner, EIF. “We are excited to work with EV Connect as they meet a critical need for expanding electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the globe.”
“For a future in which everyone from EV drivers to utilities can maximize the benefits and opportunities presented by the electrification of transportation, charging infrastructure needs to be easy for drivers to use and manageable for utilities and site owners,” said Jordan Ramer, founder, and CEO of EV Connect. “The EV industry cannot afford to continue on a path of building a fragmented EV charging ecosystem on closed platforms. We look forward to working with our new investors to bring truly flexible, open standards scalability to electric transportation, and opening up a new world of innovation for markets and drivers.”
