We’re getting the band back together: Reflecting on our EVIOS investment
Take That. Spice Girls. Beringea and EVIOS…
If you’ll forgive the clumsy metaphor, we are thrilled to have announced the renewal of our partnership with David Martell, founder and CEO of EVIOS.
For those of you who haven’t come across David before, he is one of the most exceptional entrepreneurs that we have ever worked with at Beringea. His drive, his ingenuity, and his expertise as a precise and clear-sighted operator set him apart from many founders that we meet.
It is fantastic, therefore, to have been given the opportunity to back David once more with his new venture, EVIOS, a provider of premium home charging points for electric vehicles (EVs).
In this article, I have reflected on what makes David such a successful founder and the substantial opportunity that we see in backing him and the growth of EVIOS.
Doubling down on our partnership
We first met David Martell in the early 2010s, when he was busy building Chargemaster, a network of public and residential charging points for EVs.
By this point, David was already a serial entrepreneur with impressive credentials. In 1988, David had founded Trafficmaster, a vehicle fleet tracking software business. He subsequently ran the company as CEO for 16 years, during which time he successfully listed the business on the London Stock Exchange and achieved a market capitalisation value of £1bn.
Chargemaster built on David’s track record within the automotive and infrastructure industries, and we came on board in 2014 to spearhead the development of its nationwide charging infrastructure for EVs.
By 2018, Chargemaster had established POLAR, its network of public charging points, as the UK’s largest and fastest-growing public charging network. From 3,000 units in 2014, it had expanded to 6,500 in 2018. And David’s skill as an operator was fundamental to this.
While building infrastructure is inherently capital intensive, David consistently showed his ability to scale the business sustainably — focusing on profitable growth and diligent management. In a market that often saw casualties given the high-burn profile of start-ups in the sector, Chargemaster’s capital efficiency stood out.
With a market leading position and a stable financial model, Chargemaster was ultimately acquired by BP in 2018 for more than £130m, generating a positive return for shareholders and investors.
When David therefore approached us to say that he was going again with EVIOS — with much of the team that he had in place at Chargemaster — we knew this was likely to be a partnership that we were keen to double down on.
EVs in the UK: Adapting to growing pains
The UK has a longstanding commitment to achieving net zero, and electrification of our critical infrastructure will be crucial to this process. Transport — and more specifically personal vehicles — will be fundamental, therefore, to this objective.
As a result, EVs have experienced significant growth in recent years. The cumulative number of battery-electric cars in the UK has risen from almost 100,000 in 2019 to just shy of 1,000,000 today. This growth has, however, hit some bumps in the road.
The UK Government’s decided last year to delay the date at which new petrol and diesel cars could be sold from 2030 to 2035, and consumers have certainly slowed their uptake of electric vehicles as a result — recent data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showed that the number of new registrations of EVs fell by a third from December 2022 to December 2023.
Nonetheless, the UK’s ‘zero emission vehicle mandate’ continues to state that 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans sold in Great Britain will be zero emission by 2030, increasing to 100% by 2035. By 2028, we therefore expect EV sales to represent at least 52% of all new car sales.
EVIOS: Tapping into premium demand
As the market adapts to the evolving regulatory landscape, the premium category has remained resilient. Around a third of all EVs sold in the UK come from premium manufacturers such as Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Porsche and BMW.
It is this category that EVIOS has set out to dominate, particularly following its successful acquisition of Andersen EV in 2022. The business is already a recommended installer for Porsche and a preferred supplier for Jaguar Land Rover in the UK.
Within a year of the acquisition — fuelled by this burgeoning luxury segment — Andersen EV had seen a 104 per cent increase in sales. And we expect this expansion to continue at pace, while maintaining a core focus on capital efficiency.
This is a market with a lot of room for growth. And with David at the helm, we have every confidence in EVIOS’ ability to become a profitable market leader. We can’t wait to see what this chapter has in store!
If you would like to speak to Beringea about our work as an investor, or to discuss our portfolio, please contact us at info@beringea.co.uk.
