ChargePoint raises $240 million to serve an anticipated flood of electric vehicles

TechCrunch — Electric vehicle charging network ChargePoint  has raised $240 million in a Series H funding round that attracted a diverse group of investors from the automotive, energy, financial, venture capital, utilities and even oil and gas industries.

New investors in the round include American Electric Power, Chevron Technology Ventures,  Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Daimler Trucks & Buses, GIC and Quantum Energy Partners. Existing investors include BMW i Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures, Linse Capital and Siemens.

The latest fundraising effort comes during an aggressive growth period for the company, thanks to the growing number of automakers that plan to produce electric vehicles.

“The broader energy and mobility ecosystem has recognized that we are at a tipping point in the generational shift to transportation electrification,” ChargePoint president and CEO Pasquale Romano said in a statement.

ChargePoint, which designs, develops and manufactures hardware and software solutions across every electric vehicle use case, has raised more than $500 million to build out its network. Last year, the company’s Series G round of $125 million funded its expansion into Europe.

Today, ChargePoint’s network contains more than 57,000 independently owned public and semi-public charging spots.

Now, the company is preparing for an expected deluge of electric vehicles that will be introduced over the next four years. Automakers of every size and region, from GM and Volkswagen to Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover,  have either launched an electric vehicle or are preparing to. VW, for instance, has said it has booked production for 15 million EVs.

ChargePoint is focused on meeting the needs of the everyday electric vehicle owner, as well as building out the infrastructure to maintain fleets. The company plans to use this injection of capital to expand its charging network in Europe and North America, expand options for fleets and improve the experience for EV drivers, the company said.

This means the company plans to build out features like integration with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant or Tap to Charge, which lets drivers access information by using voice commands or start a charge from their phone.