Validation of the Better Place business model to the tune of $350MM
Just over two years ago, Better Place was founded with the goal of ending our dependence on oil. To realize this vision, we dreamed up every conceivable pathway to making EVs affordable and convenient to the mass market. With inputs from leading scientists, historians, analysts and other experts, we concluded that in addition to some improvements in battery technology, there is one innovation needed to enable mass adoption of EVs: a new business model.
Until Better Place, EVs were burdened by the chicken-and-egg problem: automakers would not produce a mass-market EV because nobody would build the requisite infrastructure to support them, and nobody would invest in the infrastructure since automakers would not produce a mass-market EV. Better Place has sought to break free from this coordination challenge by making a large, up-front investment in EV network infrastructure and supporting services with the agreement from Renault to produce 100,000 EVs that are affordable to buy and amazing to drive.
Our announcement today goes a long way toward validating and enabling this model.
As detailed in our press release, we have just closed our Series B round of financing for USD $350MM. Our investors represent some of the largest financial institutions in the world, employing exceptionally thorough due diligence processes that are commensurate with the size of investment. They looked under every rock in our business model, challenging our assumptions, primary research findings, and market forecasts, and rigorously investigating our software/hardware development.
At the end of the day, these investors demonstrated their confidence in the Better Place model in the clearest possible manner: by committing significant financial resources for an equity stake in our long-term success. Rather than speaking for our investors, I would like to direct you to this video and several articles in the New York Times and Financial Times.
Overall, this additional financial strength will broaden and deepen our global activities. The resources will fund the the next phase of research, development and testing, and will support deployment in early markets and allow for expansion into additional regions.
Since the company was founded over two years ago, Better Place has maintained that the race to mass adoption of EVs would be a marathon, not a sprint. We are continuing at a fast and steady pace, and this major company milestone puts us in an unparalleled position to deliver a sustainable transportation system in our initial target markets and beyond.
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