London-based Zenobe Energy, an EV fleet and battery storage specialist, announced that it has secured up to £241M (approx €286.1M) in “first of its kind” debt structure to accelerate the expansion of the EV fleet sector.
This round takes the company’s total debt finance support from financial institutions to over £300M. Since 2017, the company has also raised equity of over £220M, including a £150M investment in November 2020, from Infracapital, the infrastructure investment arm of M&G.
The first of its kind funding platform, advised and structured by NatWest, draws on the support of several financial institutions and will enable Zenobe to initially service and finance up to 430 new e-buses in the UK and Ireland.
Investors in this round
The funding came from the UK’s private placement institutions Aviva and Scottish Widows, alongside a shorter-term facility provided by six banks, including Lloyds, MUFG, NatWest, Santander, Siemens, and Societe Generale.
The multi-source debt structure will enable the company to raise senior debt financing against the service contracts that Zenobe has entered with bus operator customers.
Nicholas Beatty, Founder Director of Zenobee Energy, says, “This innovative funding structure marks the coming of age of structured finance solutions for fleet electrification, and signifies substantial growth for our business, allowing us to accelerate the rollout of electric buses across the UK.”
“We are delighted to have worked with NatWest to complete this ground-breaking financing of a new asset class for the market. The funds we are able to draw on from our new and existing funding partners through these and future contracts will support Zenobe in our aims to assist our customers to achieve the UK’s vehicle electrification targets,” adds Beatty.
Making clean power accessible
Founded in 2017 by James Basden, Nicholas Beatty, and Steven Meersman, Zenobe claims to provide intelligent power and battery storage services for commercial EV fleet operators, power grid operators, and large businesses.
The company is helping organisations power towards net-zero by switching diesel fleets to electric and by accelerating the uptake of renewable energy. Zenobe’s battery storage offering helps electricity networks provide clean, reliable, and affordable power.
It has 175MW in operational and contracted storage assets, 394 e-buses, and an estimated 25 per cent of the UK operational e-bus market, rising to 540 contracted e-buses, its own proprietary software and a large portfolio of projects in the pipeline.
Currently, the company works with all major bus operators in the UK including Arriva, Abellio, McGills, National Express and Stagecoach, as well as local authority-owned bus companies, and is enabling the faster take-up of EV buses in the UK.
01
Job board for modern workforce: How Remote Talent helps jobseekers find truly remote, distributed work