Swobbee extends Series A financing to another €2 mn

Swobbee, a battery-swapping startup based in Berlin, has raised an extra €2 million in an extended Series A funding round. Polish fund SpeedUp Energy Innovation and Dutch Stichting Clean Future Dividend Fund are new investors.

Both have joined the group of previous investors, according to a Swobbee announcement we received by email. In spring 2022, the company had already raised €5.9 million through a regular Series A round. One of the backers at the time was the EIT InnoEnergy organisation. With the extended round, Swobbee’s capital is €7.9 million.

When receiving the first funding in 2022, Swobbee stated that it would use the money to expand its network of battery exchange stations in Germany and into two other countries. However, today’s announcement mentions the expansion in Germany “and other countries,” in particular “entering Eastern European and Southeast Asian markets in the coming months and years”. So far, Swobbee operates stations in Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal.

Founded in 2017 as GreenPack and renamed Swobbee in 2020, the startup has made the roll-out and operation of battery swap stations for light electric vehicles (LEVs) its business. Unlike market leader Gogoro, which offers battery swaps primarily for scooters of its own make, Swobbee wants to stay open to various manufacturers.

Swobbee stations currently offer eight to 30 battery compartments now compatible with eight battery types. According to the latest announcement, two more battery types are to be added “soon”. “This makes our swap infrastructure in Europe compatible with about 70 % of the current light electric vehicles used by players in the shared micromobility and last-mile delivery sector,” said Thomas Duscha, CEO and co-founder of Swobbee.

The company reportedly works with vehicles offered by Tier Mobility and recently added Voi and Bolt to its client list. Early pilots also saw Swobbee serving last-mile delivery vehicles for clients such as DPD, Hermes and DHL. The German firms Akku Vision and AES have also been known to put e-bike batteries into Swobbee stations, and the same holds true for GreenPack, Okai, Torrot and Kumpan. There was also talk of cooperation with the American-Chinese firm Segway-Ninebot.

Still, the company is actively looking for location partners to install the Swobbee battery swapping stations on their premises. The website lists BP and Shell but does not mention the network’s actual size.

Info via email.