Zapmap, the fast-growing Bristol-based electric vehicle charge point mapping app, could be launched in international markets while also growing in the UK if its co-owner is acquired by its Dubai-based bidder.
Esyasoft, which hopes to acquire renewable electricity supplier Good Energy for £99.4m, said it saw the benefit in supporting Zapmap into profitability, which would require further investment.
Zapmap originally launched in Bristol in 2014 as nextgreencar.com with the aim of becoming the UK’s No.1 green car website to help car buyers find, compare and buy a greener, more economical car.
It went on to develop an app for electric vehicles owners that searched, planned and paid for charging points – part of the business which has now become its main offering and has established itself as the leading app of its kind.
Chippenham-headquartered Good Energy acquired a 12.9% stake in Next Green Car in March 2019 and has since increased that to 49.9%.
Last summer it invested £1.7m in Zapmap to accelerate its expansion into the business-to-business market and today pumped in a further £1.85m, taking its total funding to around £9.35m.
Zapmap has around a 75% share of a rapidly growing EV driver market with nearly 1m registered users.
Esyasoft this week said continuing to back Zapmap was one of its strategic priorities if it became Good Energy’s new owner.
This would include, in the longer term, considering “the best ways of driving [Zapmap] to profitability and its potential for international expansion”.
Esyasoft, a subsidiary of the highly acquisitive Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Company (IHC) conglomerate, said it would make diversifying and expanding Good Energy’s current offerings in the renewable energy sector one of its strategic priorities.
It would also expand its activities in solar installation and maintenance. Four of Good Energy’s five acquisitions in the past two years have been solar installation services businesses.
Meanwhile, Good Energy’s founder welcomed Esyasoft’s approach, saying it would continue its original aim when it started 25 years ago of encouraging the switch to green power.
Juliet Davenport, who launched the firm in 1999, said the potential takeover offered an opportunity to scale the business further, meaning more consumers could switch to clean power and so help with the battle against the climate emergency.
She also said Good Energy, which has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2012, had struggled to raise the funds need to pursue growth.
Ms Davenport, pictured, said: “I founded Good Energy 25 years ago to be a pioneer in the provision of clean power to all customers in the UK. The energy industry back then was very different, founded around fossil fuels and designed to be a centralised system.
“This new investor for Good Energy offers an opportunity to scale the Good Energy propositions leading the decentralised and flexible clean power offering for the prosumers of the future to make a real difference to climate change.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she also said it had been difficult for firms like Good Energy to rase money on UK market.
“For UK companies of a certain size, if you grow very fast and get to a large market cap very quickly then the markets are very good for you,” she said.
“[But] if you’re not that large it can be very difficult to raise money in the UK because of the way the funds work. They don’t like investing in small illiquid companies.
“So we really struggled to get real momentum behind the business because we couldn’t raise funding.”
She said one of the reasons she set up Good Energy was to have listed vehicle where investors had an alternative to investing in fossil fuels.
“You are going to have to look to capital that has been invested in fossil fuels to come into the renewables market if we expect to transition,” she added.
“It’s inevitable that there is going to be funding coming out of those sectors.
Dubai-based Esyasoft is offering 490p a share for Good Energy. which employs more than 250 people in Chippenham, after increasing its bid. The deadline for offer was extended three times while the firms continued to negotiate. The offer, which is recommended by Good Energy’s board, is subject to shareholder approval.
Esyasoft specialises in power grid automation through smart grid technologies, advanced metering infrastructure, EV-charging infrastructure, energy storage and advanced analytics. It has offices in more than10 countries.
Esyasoft CEO and founder Bipin Chandra said: “What strikes us about Good Energy is how aligned it is both strategically and culturally with our own business.
“Good Energy, like Esyasoft, is driven by a vision to deliver a smart, green and sustainable energy future for all.
“We have a strong track record of supporting businesses involved in critical energy infrastructure and climate technologies, and therefore our portfolio of services is highly complementary to Good Energy’s.
“We believe that through our strategic partnership, we can support Good Energy in accelerating delivery of its purpose and growth ambitions by realising the extensive opportunities that exist for this business both in the UK and internationally.”