Blink Charging Co., an owner, operator and provider of electric vehicle (EV) charging equipment and services, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SemaConnect Inc., a provider of EV charging infrastructure solutions in North America, for $200 million.
The transaction will add nearly 13,000 EV chargers to Blink’s existing footprint, an additional 3,800 site host locations and more than 150,000 registered EV driver members.
With this acquisition, Blink Charging will offer complete vertical integration from research and development (R&D) and manufacturing to EV charger ownership and operations.
“This is a transformative acquisition for the EV charging industry and for Blink,” says Michael D. Farkas, founder and CEO of Blink Charging. “SemaConnect is an established and well-known EV charging company with a proven track record of success, strong relationships with its site host partners in both the public and private sectors, and best-in-class technical capabilities.”
Blink will benefit from SemaConnect’s in-house R&D, hardware design, and manufacturing capabilities. SemaConnect’s manufacturing facility in Maryland will allow Blink to comply with the Buy American mandates and to position itself to significantly capitalize on the $7.5 billion Biden administration EV infrastructure bill and assist with the administration’s goal to build out the first-ever national network of 500,000 EV chargers along America’s highways and in communities. The acquisition will also position Blink to assist the administration’s development of a national EV charging network that provides interoperability among different charging companies, and is user-friendly, reliable, and accessible to all Americans.
“SemaConnect has a robust hardware product line-up which complements Blink’s extensive software product offerings. This includes our multi-language and multi-currency network, allowing Blink to have an EV charging station for any location across more than 20 countries and expanding,” adds Farkas. “In addition, we are particularly excited about the DCFC charger being developed by SemaConnect. These efforts allow Blink to significantly accelerate our DCFC speed to market while drastically reducing our R&D costs.”
Blink intends to transition SemaConnect’s chargers to a single state-of-the-art network developed by a joint engineering team, which nearly doubles with this acquisition. The addition of the SemaConnect hardware will accelerate Blink’s expansion across multiple municipalities and geographies, including California where SemaConnect chargers already comply with local requirements for swipe credit card functionality.
“Like Blink, SemaConnect has been a leader in the EV charging industry since its early days, and the combination of our expertise will enable us to scale the deployment of EV infrastructure even more quickly and efficiently,” states Mahi Reddy, founder and CEO of SemaConnect. “We are excited to join Blink as we charge ahead in transforming the EV charging industry with flexible, reliable, and innovative solutions for customers around the globe.”
Founded in 2008, SemaConnect’s products include Level 2 and DC Fast chargers, and charging-as-a-service program which provides a full package of EV charging solutions. SemaConnect’s hardware and software solutions reach a range of EV charging customers across municipal, parking, multifamily, hotel, office, retail and commercial in the U.S. and Canada. Major customers include CBRE, JLL, Hines, Greystar, AvalonBay Communities, Cisco Systems and General Electric, among others.
“With complementary values, business models, and equipment, SemaConnect was an ideal acquisition target for Blink,” continues Farkas. “This acquisition brings to Blink top talent from the industry. By adding the SemaConnect team to its ranks, Blink is building an industry leading EV charging company. We welcome the SemaConnect team to the Blink family. With this acquisition and Blink’s recent past acquisitions, including EB Charging and Blue Corner in Europe, we have significantly expanded and strengthened our position as a global leader in the EV space.”