EO Charging, the six-year-old start-up that grew out of a first location in a former Suffolk pig shed, is to list on the Nasdaq exchange early next year at a valuation of around $675 million. EO charging, founded by 30-year-old Charlie Jardine, has agreed a deal with the private equity-backed SPAC First Reserve Sustainable Growth Corp. that will see it inject $150 million into EO Charging. EO will also take over the special purposes acquisition company’s Nasdaq listing through a reverse merger.
EO’s growth has been possible by it becoming the exclusive provider of charging points installed at logistics depots owned by companies from Amazon and DHL to Tesco and the rail and bus operator Go-Ahead, which is growing a fleet of electric buses. The start-up designs, manufactures and installs charging points as well as developing and maintaining the software that keeps the networks running efficiently.
The company currently has 60,000 EV charging points installed at depos. Most are in the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia but the company also has 5000 points elsewhere around Europe, mainly through contracts with Amazon. EO employs 180 people and turns over around £15 million a year.
The $675 million valuation looks high based on current revenues but the $150 million raised will be put to work expanding EO Charging into large new markets including Germany and Spain in Europe and in the USA.
Founder Jardine, who worked for Pod Point, another charging points firm listed in London, before going it along with EO, will share a $425 million paper fortune with early investors, including his father John Jardine who is a Suffolk farmer who made money in mulching and compost, when the company lists on Wall Street next year. Other investors include the Knightsbridge private equity firm Zouk Capital.
He commented on the start-up’s potential as a public company, stating:
“The electric vehicle market is growing at 300 per cent a year and we are in a ten to twenty-year shift to electric vehicles.”
“Some charging companies have concentrated on the home or street charging market or public charging in filling stations. We are focused on the fleet market. We are in the right place at the right time.”
Shares of EO Charging are expected to start trading on the Nasdaq in either January or February of next year.
