North Brabant-based Opcharge secures €32M to accelerate growth of its charging station network

North Brabant-based Opcharge, a provider of charging solutions for the public and semi-public market, announced that it has secured €32M from Ramphastos Investments, ASN Bank, and Aegon Asset Management-controlled investment vehicles.

The company says it will use the funds to amplify the growth of its charging station network on both national and international fronts.

The transaction is the largest investment ever raised in the Netherlands by an independent charging station operator, claims the company. 

Cyriel van Bree, CEO and partner of Opcharge, says, “Both the share of fully electric cars and plug-in hybrids on Dutch roads is growing rapidly. Among other things, improved technology, large supply and shorter delivery times are responsible for this important development in the energy transition. The Netherlands now faces a major challenge, looking at the availability of charging stations for all these cars. Thanks to this raised funding, we can further accelerate our ambitious growth strategy to help meet this demand.”

According to the Climate Agreement, all new cars sold in the Netherlands starting from 2030 must be emission-free. 

In that year, there will be an estimated two and a half million electric cars driving around the Netherlands and this will require around one million public charging points. 

Consequently, the Netherlands aims for 500,000 charging stations, with 1 million charging points, by 2025. To reach that number at the current number and pace, it is necessary to install over 200 charging stations per day! 

Van Bree says, “We face a huge challenge to realise this. My experience is that the goodwill is high, but many parties lack the knowledge to set up a good infrastructure of charging stations.”

As a part of this process, OPCHARGE aims to reach at least 5 per cent of the target of the total need for charging points by 2025

OPCHARGE: Specialises in charging solution

Founded by Pieter Haans and Freddy van Nispen in 2018, OPCHARGE specialises in charging solutions for both public, business, and private use. As of July 2023, the company has installed 400 charging points.

Van Bree adds, “We have installed the first charging stations in Germany and the UK, and we have advanced plans to become active in the Belgian, French, and Spanish markets. Our ambition is to connect 75,000 charging points by 2030, of which at least half are outside of the Netherlands.”

The Investor

Ramphastos Investments Management is a venture capital and private equity firm. The VC aims to support enterprises in all stages of their evolution from startups to scale-ups, to high-growth medium-sized companies, and mature enterprises.

Diedrik Oost, Principal at Ramphastos Investments, says, “When we invested in Opcharge over a year ago, we initiated an ambitious growth strategy together with the management. The now closed funding shows that this strategy is the right one and enables Opcharge to grow even faster, both in the Netherlands and abroad.”