The startup Daze, which produces solutions for charging electric cars, announces that it has closed a series A capital increase of 15 million euros, money that will be used to consolidate and expand the company’s position in Europe in the sector in which it operates. The project was born in 2017 from the idea of the two engineers Giacomo Zenoni and Andrea Daminelli to revolutionise the concept of electric vehicle charging and has grown with increasing attention to energy optimisation. The investment transaction is led by CDP Venture Capital , through the Energytech sub-fund of the Corporate Partners I fund and the Green Transition fund, which uses resources allocated by the European Union through the NextGeneration EU initiative with the aim of stimulating the growth of an innovation ecosystem in the green transition sector, also involved the fund EIC Fund managed by theEuropean Innovation Council, the venture capital fund managed by Simest on behalf of the Ministryof Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, as well as specialized funds such as Founders Future, French early stage VC managing more than 200 million euros and Prana Ventures. Also participating is 035 Investimenti which, having a focus on the Bergamo area where Daze is based, had already invested in the previous investment round. Future Plans Thanks to the funds raised, the company is ready to consolidate its presence in Spain and France and expand into new markets in Europe and beyond. Daze, in addition to completing the range of chargers for private and public, aims to bring a series of innovative products and services to the market. The new technologies will range from automatic charging systems (comfort charging) to those for bidirectional charging (vehicle to home and vehicle to grid) to new services to optimize the cost of energy directly on the bill. “Daze was born from a need: to support the energy transition and the adoption of electric cars with technological and innovative products and services that make every home an efficient and sustainable ecosystem. This is why we are very happy that important investors such as CDP Venture Capital and EIC Fund fully share our vision and our project; now we have the necessary resources and tools to be able to develop technology very quickly, further affirm our presence and aim to expand into other European markets,” Zenoni and Daminelli said in a statement. The strong cohesive team we have created over the years allows us to be very fast in the development processes of innovative solutions and to choose the direction to take in an agile way, a fundamental prerequisite in a rapidly changing sector. Daze is not just a manufacturer of charging stations, it differentiates itself from its main competitors by offering charging products and services that enter people’s daily lives and accompany them on the path of energy and sustainable transition”. “The meeting with Daze immediately led us to a great synergy: their project to develop new state-of-the-art wallboxes for home charging demonstrates a future-oriented vision, with a strong technological footprint and a focus on sustainability that could redefine the way the general public interacts with electric mobility – comments Marino Giocondi, senior partner and head of CDP Venture Capital’s Corporate Partner I fund. We are proud to accompany this team on the path of international development together with our corporate limited partners, bringing a positive impact in the electric vehicle market and becoming an integral part of this success story”. The investment round of 15 million euros in total also includes an equity crowdfunding campaign through the Mamacrowd portal for a maximum of 1.5 million euros that will be launched in February.
Technology
In 2020, when the company had only about fifteen people, the first Dazebox product was presented to the Italian market, a revolutionary electric car charger because it was conceived as a device for the general public, with careful design, aggressive in terms of price and designed around the needs of the home user. Thanks to this project, born from an important collaboration with the then FCA and Engie EPS, the Daze team has been enriched with industrial know-how that in the following years has allowed it to develop into much more ambitious projects. Dazebox then evolved over the next two years thanks to a series of software updates aimed at improving and evolving the product according to market demands such as the intelligent balancing of charging power, integration with photovoltaic systems and the development of the Daze app to allow the user to monitor and manage Dazebox even remotely. Finally, in the second half of 2023, from the work and experience of 5 years in the charging industry, Daze launched the latest generation of home charger: Dazebox Home is an EV charger that represents the state of the art of home charging systems. Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund Board, adds: “The EIC Fund has made a strong statement in deeptech investments in the EU. This unique form of funding through the EIC, which combines grants and equity, is proving extremely attractive to Europe’s most promising startups. The founders of Daze have distinguished themselves with their revolutionary ideas, particularly focused on the charging sector. Among these, the innovative solutions for automatic comfort charging, currently being developed for the new generation of electric vehicles, are particularly noteworthy.”
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