Energy companies have witnessed enormous investor interest and have been among the year’s winners, with global fuel consumption approaching pre-pandemic levels and crude oil prices reaching a decade high. In 2022, the S&P 500 Energy Index gained more than 50%.
Meanwhile, Booster, a company that offers on-demand energy to car fleets, has raised $125M in Series D funding. The funding round was led by Rose Park Advisors along with participation from new investors Chaac Ventures, Equinor Ventures, Mitsubishi Corporation and Thayer Ventures. Cercano Management, Conversion Capital, Enterprise Holding Ventures, Invus Opportunities, Madrona Venture Group, Maveron Ventures, Perot Jain LP, and Version One Ventures were among the existing investors that participated in the fundraise.
New capital usage
Booster will use the new capital to expand its network of direct-to-vehicle fuel distribution, allowing fleets to connect directly to a growing array of conventional, renewable, and alternative fuels.
Booster started in 2015 by partnering with businesses to fuel employee vehicles in private corporate parking spaces. It now supplies fuel directly to over 500 fleets for large logistics carriers and their contractors. It also has a consumer-facing operation. Booster provides renewable diesel delivery and launched on-demand electric vehicle charging last year. In Q1, revenue increased by 125 percent year on year, and the company now employs over 400 employees.
Former Boeing engineer Mycroft founded the company in Seattle before moving it to the Bay Area. Mycroft spent three years as vice president of strategy at Planetary Resources before founding Booster with Diego Netto and Tyler Raugh, who resigned in March.
Chaac Ventures, Cercano Management, Conversion Capital, Enterprise Holding Ventures, Equinor Ventures, Invus Opportunities, Madrona Venture Group, Maveron Ventures, Mitsubishi Corporation, Renewable Energy Group, Rose Park Advisors, Thayer Ventures, Perot Jain LP, and Version One Ventures are some of the investors in Booster.
“The supply chain powering transportation is overly reliant on costly fixed infrastructure,” said Frank Mycroft, CEO and Founder at Booster. “Given the extraordinary growth of the ‘delivery-of-everything’ economy, customers need reliable solutions that enable them to become more carbon-efficient today without compromising on cost or flexibility.”
“Since our founding seven years ago, Booster has been singularly focused on reinventing that supply chain with solutions built on data, mobility and the digital-first experience that customers want,” Mycroft added.
Business model
When fleet vehicles are not in use, Booster provides on-demand gasoline supplies to its customers, which are mainly logistics and delivery companies.
Biodiesel, traditional fuel, and stored electricity for electric vehicles are delivered overnight by Booster’s own fleet of trucks, some of which, according to Mycroft, run on biofuel.
Customers pay a per-vehicle price to fuel up, but some have access to a subscription product that includes data sent from the vehicles to Booster for fuel management and route mapping.
Traditional vehicles will continue to make up the bulk of fleets in the United States, according to Booster, and traditional fuel prices will remain high.
“Booster’s energy logistics platform and trusted service professionals are disrupting the energy supply chain, reducing emissions, and improving the competitive position of small and large customers alike,” said Matt Christensen, Managing Partner at Rose Park Advisors. “Booster’s solution helps fleets to navigate alternative powertrain options both today and in the future, when performance will increasingly be evaluated on measures of environmental and sustainability impact.”
