EV Charging Company FLO Secures $136M in Financing to Manufacture Chargers and Expand Charging Network
Canadian EV charging network operator FLO has raised $136 million in capital, primarily in the form of equity, with longtime partner Export Development Canada, the country’s export credit agency, leading the round.
FLO was also supported by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), the Investissement Québec organization, the Business Development Bank of Canada, Energy Impact Partners, and MacKinnon Bennett & Co. Inc.
“We’ve backed FLO’s growth momentum for nearly a decade now,” said Kim Thomassin, Executive Vice President and Head of Québec at CDPQ. “We were there when the company expanded across Canada and then into the US, and now we're proud to reaffirm our long-term support for this major leader in the promising transportation electrification sector.”
It’s the latest in a series of good news for the Quebec City-based company, whose leaders last week announced a partnership with Metro Inc. to install, own, and run more than 500 Ultrafast chargers at Metro’s food retail locations.
The investment dollars will help the FLO team advance the rollout of its upcoming dual-port, NEVI-compliant Ultrafast charger — which can charge most new EVs to 80% in 15 minutes — and the next generation of its home charger as well as fund new charging solutions and fuel FLO’s network expansion.
While FLO has been in the EV charging business since 2009, it owns and operates less than 1% of the 100,000+ chargers and stations it has manufactured. President and CEO Louis Tremblay and his team intend to change that over the next three years by raising that number to 25%.
"This financing will help FLO continue our work to deploy reliable, critically needed EV charging infrastructure across North America," Tremblay said. "I am grateful to our financing partners who believe in FLO and our mission to help overcome climate change by engineering and operating the most reliable EV charging network and by delivering the best possible experience for EV drivers."
According to a new Pew Research study, over 60% of Americans now live within two miles of a public charger. While the vast majority of charging occurs at home, the perception of better access can go a long way in improving the opinions of EVs themselves. The study also found that those living less than a mile from a public charger were more likely to seriously consider an EV purchase than the average adult.
