Drake Star Partners Acts As Exclusive Advisor To Freewire Technologies In Securing A $50 Million Series C, Led By Riverstone Holdings

AMSTERDAM | SAN FRANCISCO | NEW YORK (January 26, 2021) FreeWire Technologies, a leader in electric vehicle (EV) charging and power solutions, has announced a $50 million Series C funding round today, led by Riverstone Holdings (Riverstone), with participation from bp ventures, Energy Innovation Capital, TRIREC, and Alumni Ventures Group. The investment by Riverstone, a leading energy private equity firm, marks the first private equity investment in FreeWire and reinforces battery-integrated charging technology as a key solution to meet global charging demand. The round brings the six-year-old company’s total funding to nearly $100 million. Executing a well- defined product roadmap and commercial execution strategy, FreeWire is situated to become a global market leader in battery-integrated EV charging and energy services.

Drake Star Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to FreeWire on this transaction. This represents the 8th transaction in EV charging executed by the Drake Star Mobility and Energy Transition team. By leveraging its deep sector-expertise and investor relationships in the mobility and energy transition sector, Drake Star Partners has successfully managed to find the right partner for FreeWire to grow internationally and fully capture significant market opportunities in the US. Proceeds from the round will be used for the aggressive international expansion of the company’s flagship product, Boost Charger™, and expand production capacity to meet unprecedented customer demand.

The urgent need for more high power EV charging is placing significant demands on local electric grids. FreeWire’s Boost Charger scales with ease, connecting to existing low-voltage grid infrastructure and enabling high power charging from its integrated 160 kWh lithium-ion battery. While certain sites may support fast chargers requiring high power grid connections, FreeWire’s technology opens up more locations for ultrafast charging where grid power is not readily available.

Arcady Sosinov, CEO of FreeWire Technologies, commented: “We are grateful for the support of our new investment partners, which help drive our vision of widespread, sustainable electrification at the grid edge. The investment from Riverstone is a strong signal of confidence in our technology and company’s position in what we predict will be the biggest market opportunity of this decade.”

“Another transaction with a leading and innovative energy transition player” said Dominique Houde, Partner for Mobility & Energy Transition at Drake Star Partners, Amsterdam. Dominique Houde continues: “This transaction is another clear example of how the sector is scaling up, requiring the use of active storage management to optimize the grid. FreeWire is one of these exceptional companies with a team that identified a major opportunity in the energy transition market, and executed very successfully ahead of its competitors.”

Frank Verbeek, Managing Partner for Mobility & Energy Transition at Drake Star Partners, Amsterdam, added: “For Drake Star Partners this transaction is the latest of an ongoing series of landmark transactions in Mobility and Energy Transition, adding to the expertise we can make available to other players aiming for a winning position especially now with substantial government support coming to the US market.”

The investment comes on the heels of a recent agreement with the United Kingdom’s (UK) largest charging network operator, bp pulse, to be the exclusive operator of the company’s Boost Charger in the UK. FreeWire intends to deploy more than 2,500 ultrafast charging stations worldwide by 2025.

Drake Star Partners team: Dominique Houde, Sherief Rahim, Lyle Finkler, Luuk Hulzebos and Ben Bornstein

Inquiries

For further inquiries, please contact:

Dominique Houde, Sherief Rahim or Lyle Finkler

dominique.houde@drakestar.com, sherief.rahim@drakestar.com, lyle.finkler@drakestar.com