E-Mobility startup &Charge secures investment from Helen Ventures and Porsche Ventures to accelerate European expansion
&Charge GmbH, a German e-Mobility and impact startup, has closed an investment round led by Helen Ventures and Porsche Ventures. This Seed+ investment round allows the Frankfurt-based startup to further accelerate the development of its digital platform in Europe.
“We are pleased to have found such strong and renowned partners for our further growth path. Since e-Mobility is on the rise it is the perfect moment for us to scale our business fast. This investment gives us the chance to continue realizing our vision of becoming Europe’s leading platform for user engagement & value-added services around EV-charging. The funding will be used to extend our team, launch new markets and further develop our products and services”, said Eugen Letkemann, Founder and CEO of &Charge.
Launched in January 2020, &Charge has established the first sustainable loyalty program for e-Mobility in Europe and has built up a strong community of EV drivers and reputation on the market. Additional services and partnerships have been launched and are currently available in six European markets.
“The e-Mobility sector is currently rapidly accelerating and providing exciting opportunities for innovation and growth. When moving from early adopters towards the mass market, we observe a big need in the customer engagement and loyalty applications. &Charge solution offers significant advantages for consumers as well as for e-Mobility business users. The differentiated value proposition and the experienced founding team were two key criteria driving our investment”, said Terhi Vapola, Vice President, Head and Founder of Helen Ventures.
“The unique digital service offering as well as the relationship to EV-customers and charging infrastructure providers of &Charge is in perfect alignment with our e-mobility strategy. Sales figures of our all-electric Taycan sports car are rising steadily which is why we are convinced that customer demand for innovative, digital offerings related to EVs will continue to grow. Therefore, we’re looking forward to increase the sustainable driving and charging experience for Porsche customers together with &Charge”, said Patrick Huke, Head of Porsche Ventures, Europe & Israel.
About &Charge
&Charge is the engagement and value-added service platform for e-Mobility in Europe that provides cutting edge solutions for B2C and B2B EV charging and focuses on two major streams:
1. Being the companion for EV charging: The &Charge app for EV drivers (B2C) that makes charging more affordable, reliable, and fun and improves the daily charging experience. EV drivers get rewarded with bonus points (“&Charge kilometers”) for shopping and activities, they can rely on other user’s reviews of charging stations or use the marketplace for sharing private charging stations.
2. Offering a one-stop-shop-platform for value-added EV services: &Charge’s B2B solutions that bring additional benefits to partners in the EV-ecosystem such as Charge Point Operators (CPOs), e-Mobility Service Providers (EMPs) and Roaming Providers. Among others, CPOs can benefit from direct user feedback on charging station level as a kind of “remote maintenance” based on crowd-sourced data, EMPs and Roaming platforms can rely on enhanced and quality-assured POI data for charging stations or CPOs/EMPs can join the ecosystem as an acceptance partner using &Charge bonus points to increase their customer loyalty and attract new users.
&Charge has been a climate-neutral company since its foundation in 2019. The startup not only avoids, reduces, and compensates the CO2 emissions of its own business activities, but also those of its users. &Charge is part of several sustainability initiatives such as Leaders for Climate Action.
&Charge Press Contact:
Simon Vogt
simon@and-charge.me
+49 160 993 662 61
About Helen Ventures
Helen Ventures invests 50 million euros in the most innovative and transformative European startups in the energy, e-Mobility, circular economy, decarbonisation and digital solutions sectors. Together we supercharge the future. We accelerate the growth of early and growth stage companies through our profound energy market insights and by collaborating with our customers and industry experts. Helen Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Helen Ltd., an energy company giving everyone the chance to enjoy the opportunities of the new energy era.
Helen Ventures Press Contact:
Terhi Vapola
terhi@hlelenventures.fi
+358 40 803 6407
About Porsche Ventures
Porsche Ventures is the venture capital unit of Porsche AG and has offices in Stuttgart, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Palo Alto and Shanghai. It invests in innovative technology and business models around the world. Porsche has been active on the start-up scene since 2016 and has built a diverse start-up ecosystem in order to work with new, innovative companies in various phases of development. In addition to Porsche Ventures, the Porsche ecosystem includes the technology and digital unit Porsche Digital, the company builder Forward 31 and the early-stage investor APX, a joint venture with Axel Springer SE.
Porsche Ventures Press Contact:
Stefan Mayr-Uhlmann
Spokesperson Finance, Digital and IT
stefan.mayr-uhlmann@porsche.de
+49 1523 911 – 7804
