Cleantech Invest Plc Company Release 3 March 2015 at 9 am (EET) Cleantech Invest is entering the electric vehicle market by investing in PlugSurfing GmbH Cleantech Invest Plc has made an investment in PlugSurfing GmbH, taking a stake of 3.45%. Other participants in the investment round include PlugSurfing's advisor Dr Gregor Matthies, as well as a US-based incubator and venture fund. PlugSurfing will use the investment for international expansion. By aggregating many large charging point operators into one platform, PlugSurfing can be regarded as a market leader in location finding and payment services of electric vehicle charging points. With PlugSurfing's App a driver can find, access and pay for charging at different electric car charging stations, without being a direct customer of a certain charging station provider. PlugSurfing now operates its payment service in 5 countries covering over 10,000 charging points and aims to have Europe-wide coverage by the end of 2015. Transactions for charging points will be the main source of revenue in future, and the company already works with a number of major OEMs. Based on global EV registrations, the market for electric vehicle has grown by 126% between 2012 and 2014 with over 700,000 EVs currently on the road globally. With growth estimated to continue, forecasts predict that there will 10 million EVs on the road by the end of 2020. Alexander Lidgren, Managing Director at Cleantech Invest: "We believe that PlugSurfing has already built a unique position to capitalise on the development of this market and believe that the team is perfectly suited to do this. We are pleased to step into the electric vehicle business space through this deal. The estimated growth figures in this market are very exciting and it is truly inspiring to be part of the evolution of electric vehicles." "The investment is also the first one for us in Germany, a market where the focus on energy efficiency is peaking right now as the country leads the way to become fossil-free through the Energiewende." "As we now become more active on the German market we believe it will benefit more of our cases. Pay-back periods for energy efficiency solutions are a direct consequence of energy prices. If you compare energy prices in Helsinki and Berlin, they are more than double in the latter, making it a very interesting market for many of our cases." Adam Woolway, Managing Director at PlugSurfing: "We are truly delighted to work with Cleantech Invest who, not only share our core beliefs around sustainability, innovation and the EV market, but also open up a new opportunity for our services in Scandinavia. With investment from the US and Germany as well, we are entering into a very exciting phase at PlugSurfing." CLEANTECH INVEST PLC Further information: Alexander Lidgren, Managing Director of Cleantech Invest Plc, tel. +46 73 660 1007, alexander.lidgren@cleantechinvest.com Certified Advisor Access Partners Oy, tel. +358 9 682 9500. Cleantech Invest in brief Cleantech Invest focuses on clean energy and efficient use of natural resources. The company owns minorities in a diversified portfolio of companies and is actively looking for new capital light and high impact businesses within the cleantech universe. Cleantech Invest invests in the most promising early-stage and growth cleantech companies in Finland, Sweden and in the Baltic Sea area. The company management team members are international pioneers in cleantech investing. Cleantech Invest is also a designated Accelerator in the Vigo Program initiated by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. www.cleantechinvest.com. PlugSurfing in brief PlugSurfing is Europe's leading app for EV driving and biggest community of electric vehicle drivers. Founded by Adam Woolway (UK) and Jacob van Zonneveld (NL), the young and international Berlin-based start-up offers free apps to revolutionise sustainable mobility, including the locating, and paying for charging points. PlugSurfing's vision is to remove all barriers that currently exist to carbon-free mobility. [HUG#1898949]
Cleantech Invest is entering the electric vehicle market by investing in PlugSurfing GmbH
| Source: Cleantech Invest Oy