Korean charging provider Chaevi goes public

Chaevi was founded around ten years ago and has since grown into South Korea’s largest charging provider. Based in Daegu, the company operates approximately 6,000 of its own DC fast chargers. Including locations managed for other companies and institutions, this number increases to around 10,000 DC fast chargers.

Chaevi operates as a vertically integrated full-service provider of charging solutions for electric vehicles. It not only operates charging points but also manufactures charging stations and provides installation services.

One of Chaevi’s most prominent partners is Porsche Korea: since 2019, Porsche Korea has had a partnership agreement with Chaevi in South Korea for electric vehicle charging infrastructure services. The scope of services includes home chargers, HPC charging stations, destination chargers, the Porsche membership card and associated web and app services. Chaevi has also installed twelve HPC charging stations (320 kW) for Porsche’s charging network in Korea.

Just in time for the launch of the first Taycan, Chaevi also developed a 400 kW fast-charging station for Porsche Korea, which won a Red Dot Award in 2020. Furthermore, Chaevi remains Porsche’s official installation partner for home charging solutions in South Korea until 2028. As part of this, exactly 242 home chargers were installed between 2020 and 2025, according to Porsche.

Chaevi’s upcoming initial public offering (IPO) on 29 April on Seoul’s KOSDAQ technology exchange was initially expected to raise up to 153 billion won (approximately €88.5 million euros) for the company. However, according to Seoul Economic Daily, institutional investor demand was weaker than anticipated, reportedly due to concerns about Chaevi’s growth prospects and profitability amid the slower-than-expected uptake of electromobility. Despite this, Chaevi states that it aims to achieve a positive EBITDA in the fourth quarter of 2026 and operational profitability next year.

CEO Choi Young-hoon said: “The DC fast charging infrastructure sector is comparable to the ‘jeans industry’ of electromobility, offering the highest profit margins within the electric vehicle value chain.” He added: “Given the market structure, where the operator who secures the best locations first dominates, Chaevi will be the winner.”

Nevertheless, Chaevi has now reduced the number of shares to be issued from ten million to nine million and set the sale price at the lower end of the targeted range of 12,300 to 15,300 won. If all shares are sold, this would result in a total issuance volume of 110.7 billion won, equivalent to approximately €64 million euros.

sedaily.com, chaevi.com (CEO quote in Korean), chaevi.com (issue price in Korean)