Automated EV charging pioneer Easelink raises €8.3m Series A round led by SET Ventures

Easelink, the Austrian high-tech pioneer in the field of automated EV charging has announced an €8.3m Series A funding round led by SET Ventures with participation of EnBW New Ventures, Smartworks, and existing investor Hermann Hauser.

Easelink provides a fully automated charging experience and eliminates the need to plug in an electric vehicle by hand. Its Matrix Charging^® system comprises an underbody vehicle unit and a charge pad installed on the parking space. The technology is compatible with most major electric vehicle platforms and will be rolled out in a retrofit version as well as a factory-installed option for new cars. As the most cost-effective and energy-efficient solution available, this opens up automated charging not only for premium vehicles but also in the volume segment.

The funds will be used to keep growing the product team, expand collaborations within the automotive and infrastructure industries and continue the path towards a global automated charging standard. Matrix Charging^® is already being used by key partners in several pilot projects, such as the eTaxi Austria project targeting automated charging of taxi fleets in Vienna and Graz.

Smartworks is the venture arm of Wiener Stadtwerke and Wien Energie. Wien Energie is Austria’s largest energy provider and plays the lead strategic role in the eTaxi Austria project. “We believe that the electrification of urban traffic ¬– especially of urban fleets – requires decentralized and barrier-free charging points in the public space. Wien Energie’s successful collaboration with Easelink in the eTaxi Austria project convinced us to support Easelink with an investment,” explains Andreas Straßer, Managing Director at Smartworks.

Easelink’s seed investor, Dr. Hermann Hauser, who is co-founder of ARM Limited, also participated in the round with his Austrian-based investment company HHI. “As an innovation- and technology-driven person, I am delighted to see how the Easelink team is executing their ambitious plan,” says Dr. Hermann Hauser.

Easelink is a high-tech company headquartered in Graz, Austria, and dedicated to development of the automated conductive charging solution “Matrix Charging®” for electric vehicles. The innovative character of Easelink can be seen in its many patents and trademarks. Easelink, with sites in Austria and China, currently has 45 employees and actively contributes to various standardization bodies for charging technology, such as the relevant working groups of the Charging Interface Initiative (CharIn), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Within the framework of cooperative projects, a number of leading automotive manufacturers and suppliers, infrastructure providers and vehicle fleet operators are already making use already of the innovative Matrix Charging^® technology.