FreeWire Technologies, a market leader in ultrafast electric vehicle (EV) charging and energy management solutions, announced today the completion of a $125 million capital raise. The financing is comprised of a Senior Convertible Note provided exclusively by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock Financial Management, Inc. and a concurrent equity raise from institutional and strategic investors including bp ventures, Riverstone Holdings, Octave Ventures, Gly Capital Management, Blue Bear Capital, and Daishin Private Equity.
The additional capital will be used to support FreeWire’s aggressive growth plans as it accelerates commercial deployments of its battery-integrated ultrafast EV charging technology and expands manufacturing capacity to meet growing global customer demand, including in high-priority markets such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and Australia/New Zealand. Additionally, proceeds will be used to grow the Company’s talent pool and invest in R&D to ensure the Company’s product roadmap and unique energy management platform remain innovative.
“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,” said Steven Karpel, Managing Director, Fundamental Fixed Income at BlackRock.
FreeWire recently broke ground on a new 66,000-square-foot research and development facility in Newark, California. The facility will be used to develop and manufacture new ultrafast charging and energy storage products. The facility is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in Summer 2022, putting FreeWire at the epicenter of the San Francisco Bay Area’s transportation technology hub.
Boost ChargerTM, FreeWire’s proprietary battery-integrated charging technology, alleviates grid constraints by integrating charging infrastructure, grid infrastructure, and energy storage into a fully integrated compact solution. Along with its hardware offering, FreeWire is expanding its software platform, which is expected to result in multiple, recurring, high-margin revenue streams over the medium and long term. In 2022, the company plans to launch AMP Pro, which will provide distributed energy management services that will enable the battery system’s inherent value to be realized through load shifting, demand charge management, and resiliency, among other things. Charging as a Service will follow in 2023. FreeWire’s long-term goal is to provide a turnkey retail energy service in which it owns, manages, and optimizes the customer’s utility meter and bill in order to generate additional revenue from its integrated battery system.
“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,“ said Arcady Sosinov, Founder and CEO of FreeWire Technologies. “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. We are excited about the opportunity to scale up our differentiated business and technology with the proceeds from this funding round.”
Chargers combined with energy storage will maximize the use of low-cost renewable energy sources and increase grid resiliency, allowing EVs to recharge and power critical infrastructure during power outages. FreeWire’s integrated system enables customers to rapidly deploy ultrafast charging and power solutions – all while alleviating strain on the electric grid and potentially enabling an entirely new category of distributed energy services.
Using battery-integrated charging, FreeWire has installed nearly 5 MWh of energy storage capacity to date, with over 30 MWh reserved. By 2025, FreeWire hopes to have deployed over 5,000 ultrafast battery-integrated chargers.
Citigroup acted as the sole financial advisor and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati acted as the legal advisor to FreeWire on the transactions.
