EV refueler Better Place hauls in $350M (San Francisco)
Electric vehicle recharging infrastructure company Better Place raised $350 million in venture capital in a Series B round, the company announced this morning, valuing the Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup at $1.5 billion.
Better Place's high-profile founder CEO, former SAP executive Shai Agassi, said in a statement, "The strong investment commitment and global relationships that HSBC, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Lazard Asset Management bring to the table combined with the continuing confidence from our original investors enables us to scale up globally and execute against our plan."
The company's initial projects in Denmark and Israel should both be online in 2011 using all-electric Renault sedans.
Portland's partner for recharging stations is Phoenix-based eTec, which received a $99.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to build-out a charging infrastructure in five states. But Better Place's battery-swapping model could be an option for Oregon down the road.
Read the Better Place blog about the financing and a full report in the San Francisco Business Times.
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