BMW iVentures continues its idyll with electric vehicles and backs the A round of 13 million dollars of this Bulgarian startup

EV charging management systems are typically end-to-end solutions for managing EV charging operations, billing, energy, drivers, and even fleets. This means that EV charging service providers can optimize the monetization of their operations.

Several companies have proliferated in recent years. drivz, From Israel, has raised $23,1 million in venture capital to date and was recently selected by Shell to manage its smart energy management and charging platform. greenflux, from the Netherlands, has obtained 11 million euros. They are also ChargeLab (20,4 million dollars), from Canada; Monta (50 million euros), from Denmark; and EV Energy ($13,5 million), from the United Kingdom.

For its part, ampeco, originally from Sofia (Bulgaria), but now operating throughout Europe, is a company that until now had not appeared on the venture capital financing radar with its own electric vehicle charging management platform.

That changes with the news that Ampeco has raised a $13 million Series A round led by BMW iVentures, bringing the total raised to date to $16 million. The startup plans to use the cash to push further in North America as well as product growth.

In the round of Serie A LaunchHub Ventures from Bulgaria (which last year announced a €70m fund, substantial for the South East Europe region) and Cavalry Ventures (from Berlin), as well as a handful of angel investors, also participated.

It's worth remembering that BMW iVentures has experience in this area, having backed a number of companies. He was an early investor in Chargepoint (now on the New York Stock Exchange) and Chargemaster (acquired by BP).

Ampeco offers a solution to EV charging providers spanning the public sector, private business fleets and the residential sector. The idea is that its platform will allow customers to manage chargers at scale and then pick and mix among hardware partners, rather than being tied to a single hardware vendor. It also works with smart meters, building management systems, and renewable energy sources.

Orlyn Radev, CEO of AMPECO, has declared the following: "There is an incredible opportunity for EV charging providers to build and scale a profitable business using innovative technologies."

Four years after its release, Ampeco affirms that it has attracted 120 customers in 45 markets, has reached 62.000 charging points and has doubled its workforce to more than 80 people.

Baris Guzel, a partner at BMW i Ventures, added: “As EV sales proliferate, access to charging infrastructure is more important than ever. Ampeco's hardware-agnostic, comprehensive software solution enables customers to quickly launch and expand their own EV charging networks.”