FreeWire Technologies, a California-based electric vehicle (EV) charging and power solutions, announced that it has raised $125M in a Series D funding round.
The latest funding round was managed by BlackRock Financial Management and saw equity raised with institutional and strategic investors such as bp ventures, Riverstone Holdings, Octave Ventures, Gly Capital Management, Blue Bear Capital, and Daishin Private Equity amongst others.
How will the funding be used?
The new capital will enable FreeWire to accelerate commercial deployments of its battery-integrated ultrafast EV charging technology and increases manufacturing capacity to meet growing global customer demand, including high priority markets such as the UK, Canada, Japan, and Australia/New Zealand.
Proceeds will also be used to expand the company’s talent pool and invest in R&D to drive innovation of its product roadmap and unique energy management platform.
“The most significant barrier to mass EV adoption is the electric grid, which simply can’t meet the power demand required for ultrafast charging to sustainably and cost-effectively electrify our transportation system,” says Arcady Sosinov, Founder and CEO of FreeWire Technologies.
He adds, “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 U.S. 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.”
Battery-integrated EV charging stations
Founded in 2014, FreeWire Technologies manufactures battery-integrated EV charging stations and power solutions in the US.
The company’s battery-integrated charging technology, Boost Charger, solves grid constraints by packaging charging as well as grid infrastructure, and energy storage into a fully-integrated compact solution.
Besides hardware offering, the company is also working on its software platform for recurring high-margin revenue streams over the medium and longer term.
The Boost Charger technology enables ultrafast EV charging at all locations simultaneously eliminating the costs of providing fast charging using power directly from the electric grid.
FreeWire has deployed battery-integrated chargers with Fortune 100 companies, commercial customers, fleets, retail locations, and gas stations across the US and has partnered with bp pulse to deploy Boost Charger in its operations across the UK.
The US company has installed nearly 5 MWh of energy storage capacity through battery-integrated charging to date with over 30 MWh booked. FreeWire aims to deploy over 5,000 ultrafast battery-integrated chargers by 2025.
FreeWire is also developing a new 66,000-square-foot R&D facility in Newark, California to develop and manufacture new ultrafast charging and energy storage product offerings. Construction of the facility is underway and will be fully operational by Summer 2022.
“BlackRock’s investment in FreeWire Technologies underscores our confidence in the company’s innovative product suite and its ability to accelerate EV adoption while mitigating the strain on the electric grid,” says Steven Karpel, Managing Director, Fundamental Fixed Income at BlackRock.
