FreeWire gets $125Mn in latest funding round
FreeWire Technologies has raised $125 million in new capital. The company says it will use the new money to accelerate commercial deployments of its battery-boosted EV charging technology and increase manufacturing capacity as well as R&D.
FreeWire, a US company that counts BP Ventures amongst its early investors, also points to “high priority markets such as the UK, Canada, Japan, and Australia/New Zealand”, where they saw growing demand.
This latest round of investment was managed by BlackRock Financial Management and saw an equity raise with recurring and new investors such as bp ventures, Riverstone Holdings, Octave Ventures, Gly Capital Management, Blue Bear Capital, and Daishin Private Equity. It is the fourth funding round, with the last series raising 50Mn in January 2021 as reported.
FreeWire recently broke ground on a new R&D facility in Newark, California, to develop and manufacture new ultrafast charging and energy storage products. The company expects the facility to be fully operational by Summer and says it puts them at the centre of the Bay Area’s transportation technology hub.
The renewed funding through BP also comes on the heels of a recent agreement with bp pulse. The charging venture will exclusively operate FreeWire’s Boost Charger in the UK also since bp pulse is currently looking into ultra-rapid charging. They aim to operate 700 or more ultra-fast public chargers by 2025.
The Boost Charger is a power pack that connects to existing low-voltage grid infrastructure while enabling high power DC fast-charging from its integrated 160 kWh lithium-ion battery.
In addition to its hardware offering, FreeWire says it is evolving its software platform. In 2022, the company expects to roll out AMP Pro to provide distributed energy management services that include load shifting, demand charge management, or resiliency, followed by Charging as a Service in 2023.
FreeWire says it has installed nearly 5 MWh of energy storage capacity through battery-integrated charging, with over 30 MWh booked. The company aims to deploy over 5,000 ultrafast chargers by 2025.
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