UK’s EV charge point mapping app Zap-Map raises €8.8M; to expand paid-subscription services

Bristol, UK-based Zap-Map, a provider of EV charge point mapping services, announced on Monday that it has raised £9M (approximately €8.81M) in a Series A round of funding. The startup is now valued at £26.3M.

The round was led by Good Energy, a UK-based renewable electricity company, which invested £3.7M. A £5.3M investment came from new strategic investor Fleetcor Technologies, a global fuel card and payment provider.

Fleetcor’s investment expands upon an already-existing collaboration that sees Fleetcor’s Allstar Business Solutions incorporated into Zap-Map’s payment product Zap-Pay, which makes paying for EV charging convenient. Zap-Pay is already integrated with nine charging networks.

Nigel Pocklington, Chair of Zap-Map and Chief Executive of Good Energy, says, “There are over half a million EV drivers in the UK, with millions more switching to electric in the coming years. It is a race towards zero-emission transport and Zap-Map is placed right at the front of the field, where we plan to keep it. Bringing on a partner with the scale and compatibility of Fleetcor ensures that that is possible, opening up further possibilities in international payments and fleet electrification.”

Capital utilisation

Zap-Map, which claims to have over 70 per cent share of the EV driver market in the UK, says it will use the funds to build on its paid-subscription services and initiate international expansion. The company will also utilise the capital to accelerate the expansion of its development team. 

Richard Bourne, Chief Executive of Zap-Map, says, “This fundraising allows us to accelerate Zap-Map’s core mission – making it simple for current and future electric vehicle drivers to plan journeys, search and pay for electric vehicle charging. Good Energy has proven a powerful partner to date and we are delighted to have a new strategic collaboration with Fleetcor which will supercharge our ambition to accelerate the provision of services to the fleet market and allow us to look ahead and expand internationally.”

EV charging made simple

Launched in 2014 by Ben Lane and Melanie Shufflebotham, Zap-Map is on a mission to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles and help the drive towards zero carbon mobility. The company claims to be the UK’s leading EV mapping service. Its charging point map helps EV drivers to search for available charge points, pay for charging on participating networks, and share updates with other drivers.

The company says it has more than 420,000 registered users and over 95 per cent of the UK’s public points on its network, with around 70 per cent being updated with live availability status data. More than 220,000 EV drivers use Zap-Map each month.

Zap-Map and Allstar Electric

Zap-Map’s existing collaboration with Fleetcor-owned Allstar Electric allows Allstar Electric customers to search, plan and pay for EV charging through Zap-Map. The app helps Allstar drivers find their nearest Allstar-enabled charge points, easing range anxiety and assisting in customers’ journey planning.

Drivers can also enable Allstar features and use Zap-Pay to pay for EV charging at participating Allstar network locations by downloading the Zap-Map app and adding their Allstar Electric card. Zap-Pay, a single app payment system, eliminates the inconvenience of utilising numerous payment methods across various networks.

Brief about the investors

Good Energy is a supplier of 100 per cent renewable power and an innovator in energy services. The company claims to have long-term power purchase agreements with a community of 1,900 independent UK generators. For the last 20 years, the company’s goal has been  to make it simple to produce, share, store, utilise, and travel on clean electricity. By 2025, it hopes to assist a million homes and companies in reducing the amount of carbon they emit through their energy and transportation consumption.

Fleetcor Technologies is a global business payments company that helps businesses spend less by providing solutions to control expense-related purchasing and payment processes. Its portfolio of brands automate, secure, digitise, and manage payment transactions on behalf of businesses across more than 100 countries in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.