Fleetcor Technologies has confirmed the acquisition of Plugsurfing, an electric vehicle (EV) software and network provider, and invested £5.3 million in the UK-based EV search and pay mapping service Zap-Map.
These two transactions support Fleetcor in spearheading the global rollout of EV charging accessibility alongside the decarbonisation of road transportation.
The global business payments company aims to automate, secure, digitise and manage payment transactions for business across the globe. It also processes billions of electronic transactions annually, with a revenue of £2.3 billion ($2.8 billion) in 2021 and a £14 billion ($17 billion) market cap.
With these new transactions, it is hoped Fleetcor will delve deeper into the EV charging infrastructure and create solutions to tackle accessibility.
“We’re building a broad set of EV assets to not only support our fleet clients’ needs for public and at-home charging, but also to enter completely new EV customer segments with OEMs and CPOs (charge point operators),” said Ron Clarke, chairman and CEO of Fleetcor Technologies.
In acquiring Plugsurfing, Fleetcor gains a proprietary EV charging network in Europe with over 300,000 charge points, or nearly 80% of all charge points in Europe, states the company.
The technology also comes with a mobile app to access charge point locations, availability and cost helping to contribute to the mission of Fleetcor. This will also make charging EVs more accessible – a major obstacle and drive in the market currently.
As revealed in early August, Fleetcor was among several companies that raised a collective £9 million for Zap-Map through a Series A round. This financial incentive was provided as the company looks to expand its services internationally.
The Series A round saw the company’s valuation grow from a pre-money enterprise valuation of £18.35 million and an equity value of £17.3 million, to £26.3 million post-money equity value.
Zap-Map aims to use this new funding to build on its paid-subscription services and start its international expansion, including increasing the size of its development team.
The investment builds on the existing partnership between the companies, with Fleetcor's Allstar Business Solutions integrated with Zap-Map's Zap-Pay in 2021, making paying for EV charging simpler. Zap-Pay had been integrated with nine charging networks at the time.
On the Series A funding and investment from Fleetcor, Richard Bourne, chief executive of Zap-Map, said: "This fundraising round allows us to accelerate Zap-Map's core mission - making it simple for current and future electric vehicle drivers to plan journeys, search and pay for electric vehicle charging.
“Good Energy has proven a powerful partner to date and we are delighted to have a new strategic collaboration with Fleetcor which will supercharge our ambition to accelerate the provision of services to the fleet market and allow us to look ahead and expand internationally."
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