EV Connect Secures $12 mn in Funding Led by Japan’s Mitsui

EV Connect, which has developed cloud-based solutions to expand the world’s EV charging ecosystem, has secured USD 12 million in funding led by Mitsui

EV Connect has announced that it has closed a USD 12 million Series B funding round. Lead investors, Mitsui and Ecosystem Integrity Fund, are joined by other venture investors to support the firm’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 USD 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, the startup supports businesses and utilities in the optimisation and management of EV chargers through the application of their cloud-based software platform. 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.

Kazumasa Nakai, chief operating officer of Infrastructure Projects Business Unit at Mitsui & Co., said that the firm strongly believes 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.

“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 optimisation of EV charging infrastructure by providing key insights into EV charge stations to help protect grid assets through demand response management, monitoring utilisation, 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.

“For a future in which everyone from EV drivers to utilities can maximise 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.”