It’s not often you see a $300M+ Series B round that’s all in equity. And yet, a startup based in Paris Electra just raised a $330m (€304m) Series B round.
Electra is an electric vehicle charging company that builds a network of charging stations in France and other European countries. The company currently has 172 active charging stations (with multiple charging points per station) and is in the process of rolling out another 105.
These 172 charging stations represent almost 1,000 charging points. You can usually find them in supermarket car parks, in front of hotels or at motorway rest areas. The company has also partnered with Toulouse airport to build some charging stations there.
What makes Electra stand out from other EV charging networks is that it focuses exclusively on fast charging stations. It is also developing its software stack so that the company’s app works well with the company’s charging stations.
And this unlocks some interesting features. For example, Electra knows the status of its charging stations in real time. Customers can be sure there is a spot available when they drive to a charging station.
In addition, customers can reserve a charging point in advance if there are only a few charging points available. Electra charges from €0.39 per kWh to €0.52 per kWh in France, depending on the charging speed you request.
As you might expect, building an EV charging network is expensive. And this new round of funding will be used to roll out more charging stations. Electra believes it can open 15,000 charging points at 2,200 stations by 2030.
PGGM, a Dutch pension fund service provider, as well as Bpifrance’s Large Venture fund, are leading the funding round. Existing investors Eurazeo, RIVE Private Investment, SNCF Group through 574 Invest and Serena are once again participating.
And as a reminder, Electra has also previously raised money from EIP in Switzerland, RATP Capital Innovation, CDC’s Banque des Territoires, Adme Investissement, Eiffel Investment Group, RGreen Invest, Frst, Allianz, Groupe Chopard and Altarea. Overall, there are several large infrastructure players or public financial institutions at the Electra table.
Electra competes with Ionity, another German-based European EV charging startup that raised €700 million a few years ago. There are other EVs that are purely charging players around the world, such as EVPassport in North America, which recently raised $200 million.
While these companies are infrastructure plays, interestingly they are raising equity rounds. Usually, start-ups with huge capital requirements try to secure a line of credit with a financial partner to start the projects. But in the EV charging world, it sounds like infrastructure funds want a financial stake in these companies.
