Estonian startup VOOL has secured a fresh capital injection of €2.92mn to boost production and development of its EV charging solutions. Specifically, the company closed an additional seed round of €1.3mn and received a €1.6mn grant from the Estonian government.
Founded in 2018, VOOL offers a smart EV charging system, which combines in-house developed hardware and software. This includes the charger, hub, app (B2C), web platform, and admin portal (B2B).
The company claims its solution uses the existing grid three times more efficiently than average thanks to its “three-phase” technology.
“Currently, you still have access to only a fraction of the full capacity of the grid, even though the whole of Europe is connected to three phases of electricity,” explains the co-founder and CEO of VOOL, Juhan Härm. “We use all three phases and automatically switch between them when needed. This way, we can offer reliable and sustainable automatic charging,” he adds.
VOOL’s software also tracks electricity prices to make sure the EV is charged at the lowest cost possible within the set timeframe, which, according to Härm, enables users to save up to 90% on charging costs.
The new capital has a threefold aim: to scale up the recently-launched charger production; to grow the international sales and customer support team in the Nordics; and to develop new household products for grid optimisation.
The seed funding round was led by Specialist VC, investment company Amalfi, and a mix of real estate developers.
VOOL also secured capital from new angel investors, including Taavi Veskimägi, the former chairman of the board of Estonia’s independent electricity and gas system operator Elering. Notably, however, the biggest angel investors were the startup’s own employees, accounting for 15% of the investment.
The company’s total funding now stands at €7.62mn.