The electromobility department of ABB (Asea Brown Boveri Ltd, Sweden-Switzerland) has announced an investment in the Ukrainian startup Go To-U.
“This is the first equity round of the company’s investments, led by ABB EL Ventures and ABB Technology Ventures. The startup is also supported by the Techstars accelerator,” the companies said in a joint release.
The size of the investment has not been specified.
ABB indicates that this investment by its ABB EL Ventures and ABB Technology Ventures (ATV) divisions has expanded the strategic portfolio of ABB’s venture capital firms and its electromobility division, while Go To-U clarifies that it will remain a platform compatible with equipment from the leading manufacturers.
“The investment will contribute to the commercialization of GO TO-U software technology and further product development. The GO TO-U solution will be available worldwide,” the statement said.
Go To-U was founded in Lviv in 2016-2017, its software is aimed at owners of electric vehicles – the application is a map of charging stations with the ability to book and pay for services. The platform unites more than 300,000 charging stations in 47 countries of the world. In addition, the company provides services for the sale and installation of charging stations.
The startup took part in the European climate innovation voucher programs for the development of the client side of the back office for EUR50,000 and the ImpactConnected Cars acceleration program from Horizon2020 fund for EUR60,000. Earlier, in 2020, Go To-U received an investment of $ 100,000 from the accelerator Techstars, the company was valued at $ 3 million. The company’s headquarters are currently listed in Los Angeles.
ABB is an international company specializing in electrical engineering, power engineering and information technology, founded in 1988 after the merger of ASEA (Sweden) and Brown, Boveri & Cie (Switzerland), and is represented in more than 100 countries. Its manufacturing facilities are located in over 15 countries.
The active development of sustainable energy creates demand on the introduction of micro-grid systems in Ukraine, and growing popularity of electric cars creates demand on the installation of superchargers. A representative of the company Andriy Panchenko described the new trends at the Swedish-Ukrainian business forum held in Kyiv recently. According to him, the company has already built 25 MW solar power plants under an order of Ukrainian energy companies.
Panchenko told Interfax-Ukraine that ABB on the market of solar power plants offers complex solutions, supplying everything, except solar cell arrays and cables. He estimated ABB’s market share at about 10%.
The representative of the company said that this market is growing, and this year the volume of construction will exceed 30 MW.
With regard to the superchargers, Panchenko said that the company has already installed 15 devices with a capacity of 50 kW, and the largest customer was DTEK. In his opinion, this market will continue to grow rapidly, as Ukraine is now the fifth market in Europe for importing cars, and the number of high-speed charges on the market is still very low. In general, Panchenko said that the ABB business in Ukraine began to grow, and if in 2014 its staff decreased from 200 to 100, now it has about 120 employees.
