Almost two years to the day after announcing its first car partnership and its first country deployment in Israel, Better Place today announced that it has signed an agreement with an HSBC-led investor consortium for new equity financing of $350 million.
Better Place is developing infrastructures in select markets around the world to support the recharging and swapping of batteries for electric vehicles.
The deal marks one of the largest clean tech investments in history and values Better Place at $1.25 billion.
This Series B equity financing round features participation from new
investors including HSBC, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, and
Lazard Asset Management. These investors join existing Series A
investors including Israel Corp., VantagePoint Venture Partners, Ofer
Hi-Tech Holdings, Morgan Stanley Principal Investments, and Maniv
Energy Capital, among others, as shareholders of Better Place. For
HSBC, which led the round with an investment of $125 million, the deal
represents one of the largest financial investments of its kind by HSBC.
As part of the deal, Kevin Adeson, HSBC Head of Global Capital Financing, will join the Better Place Board of Directors, and HSBC will own approximately 10% of the company’s shares.
“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,” Shai Agassi, Better Place Founder and CEO, said.
In welcoming Adeson to the Board, Idan Ofer, Chairman of Better Place and Israel Corp., remarked, “Kevin and the entire HSBC team will bring more than just capital to the table. We expect that HSBC will help us to scale in Europe, China and beyond, and we’re already seeing the value that they are bringing to the company and the Board.”
The financing allows Better Place to expand its geographic footprint
while continuing to execute against its committed R&D and
deployment milestones. The company intends to expand into markets where
the business model economics and investor returns are optimized,
notably in Europe and Asia.
Better Place’s new board member, Kevin Adeson of HSBC, commented: “We are confident that Better Place has the technical and commercial solutions to allow for the mass adoption of electric cars in the near term. The Better Place switchable battery solution, which addresses the range limitation of fixed battery electric cars, will offer the consumer an affordable and attractive alternative to current combustion engine and hybrid vehicles. We expect the Better Place model to be widely adopted across many countries and cities, particularly in those markets with policies strongly favoring electric vehicle adoption.”
Better Place said it is on schedule for Israel and Denmark launch plans for the end of 2011 when the first Renault switchable battery electric cars hit the road. Better Place also will continue to execute against its strategy of early deployment projects in Australia and select North American markets a few months after the Israel and Denmark launches as planned.
Additionally, the company’s R&D team is currently testing each element of the Better Place solution in real-life scenarios around the world in a multi-phase cycle, beginning with the company’s managed EV network in Denmark, which began last December, and a Tokyo electric taxi project with battery switch station, which kicks off in April this year. These and other development milestones lead up to full-scale trials in the second half of 2010 and commercial launch in 2011.
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