Kwetta's co-founders (from left) Mike Lazelle, Dustin Murdock and Dr Robert Turner.
Kwetta's co-founders (from left) Mike Lazelle, Dustin Murdock and Dr Robert Turner.
A 3-year-old start-up making supercharging equipment for electric vehicles has secured US$10.5 million ($17.5m) in investment to fuel its already impressive revenue growth.
The funding for Kwetta, based in Napier, came from existing investors, including Ampol’s Z Energy, Blackbird,Icehouse Ventures andAustralia’s Virescent Ventures, which was backed by the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
Z now owned 7% of the business, according to Companies Office records.
Investors offered another US$10m in the oversubscribed capital raise but Kwetta’s co-founders decided to take the initial amount only.
Kwetta had sold $10m worth of charging outlets across New Zealand, a total of 39 so far, with orders to fill in Australia and interest in Europe.
Its equipment could retrieve 10 times more power from the grid, through its patented technology that connected to the higher voltage end of the grid, co-founder Mike Lazelle told the Herald.
”The power grid, think about it like a network of pipes. Our technology can unkink the pipe upstream so we can get more power out of the grid.
”We would say, we are the modernisation. We are the way that the new grid needs to be.”
Lazelle said kinks in the system existed because utilities providers globally could not upgrade grids fast enough to keep up with electricity demand.
“That’s why the grid has these challenges.
”In Norway, just to give an example of how bad it’s getting, there’s up to a 12-year delay for a new grid connection.
”Norway’s got the most electrified vehicles on earth and, correspondingly, they’ve got some of the longest delays for grid connections.”
Kwetta’s funding allowed it to set up a team in Europe and focus on the heavy vehicle market – buses and trucks.
”The tech[nology] really comes into its own for transitioning the 50% of diesel emissions that come from trucks.” Lazelle said.
”There’s more than 3,500 electric buses in New Zealand, coming in the next 10 years, and then five times that coming in Australia. So, these are two big focus markets of ours.”
Lazelle said his company’s technology marked an evolution of power electronics history in Hawke’s Bay.
“Napier, New Zealand, and it’s a little-known fact, has actually been a world leader at this particular type of technology for a long, long time, like up to 30 years.”
Kwetta's electric vehicle chargers at a Z Energy petrol station in New Plymouth can already fast-charge trucks.
Lazelle founded the business alongside chief executive Dustin Murdock and Dr Robert Turner – all three were electrical engineers.
Robert Turner’s father, Transpower chairman Dr Keith Turner, was Kwetta’s chairman.
“Dustin, Mike and Rob have achieved remarkable speed in building an outstanding New Zealand company,” Turner snr added.
”The Series A funding round, completed after a brief tour through Europe, the USA and Australia is a strong global endorsement of their vision and innovation.
”Their grid-first approach uniquely solves the challenges of EV fast-charging.”
The Government wants to see a national network of 10,000 electric vehicle chargers by 2030.
New Zealand business ChargeNet already has 400 EV fast-charging stations installed across the country.
Another business, ChargeNet, had 400 fast-charging stations installed across New Zealand, including at Z Energy stations, and more than 90% of New Zealand’s EV owners are registered as customers.
Lazelle said a company like ChargeNet would be a customer of Kwetta’s, which manufactured the charging equipment.
Icehouse Ventures and The Clean Energy Innovation Fund’s Virescent Ventures also chipped in.
Blackbird principal James Palmer said in a statement: “With early evidence that buses and trucks are flipping to EV, we think this is a winning strategy and positions them for category leadership in the most valuable segment of the market.
”I was also struck by the speed and quality of execution. The team went from a clean sheet of paper to 39 charging bays in 2.5 years and with less than US$2.5m raised.
”Speed and scrappiness are wonderful signals in the world of deep tech – we’re confident Dustin, Mike and Rob have built a culture of relentless execution.”
Madison Reidy is the host and executive producer of the NZ Herald’s investment show Markets with Madison. She joined the Herald in 2022 after working in investment and has covered business and economics for television and radio broadcasters.
