Portland, Ore.-based OpConnect raised nearly $5.26 million to expand its sales of hardware and software for electric vehicle charging stations.
CEO Dexter Turner launched the company in 2016. It has raised $14 million in total.
OpConnect is focused on organizations with EV fleets, such as cities and other municipalities, food and beverage deliveries and school districts, as well as multi-family properties including condos and apartment buildings.
The company’s services start with advising customers on what sort of charging system will meet their needs; selling them the hardware, which comes from third-party manufacturers; installing the chargers; and connecting the system to OpConnect’s online management services. The startup also provides charger maintenance.
The startup’s online technology integrates the station hardware with software that controls access to chargers — for example, setting limits on charging times at an apartment or creating fee-based usage. The technology also manages how much energy is used by the chargers and generates reports on power consumption.
“All our software is developed in-house by our own engineering team, and the software platform is really where the strength of the company is.” Turner said.
The company operates nationwide and has installations in 28 states with plans to expand, particularly in the Midwest and into Canada and Puerto Rico.
OpConnect has also done pilot projects that add solar power and battery storage to the charging stations to lower their energy demand. The company is now planning to scale those systems into microgrids that can provide power to chargers even if the broader grid goes down or energy demand surges.
“We’ve got our first couple of [microgrid] installations committed in Oregon, and are looking for the funding to get those off the ground next year,” Turner said.
OpConnect is Turner’s third startup. His background is in aviation, starting with roles at Boeing and Honeywell Aerospace. Turner’s first company provided contract software development for aviation, and his customers included aerospace giants. His second venture was developing an electronic flight instrument system for small airplanes — essentially a single-screen display that could replace the instruments in aircraft such as Cessna planes.
Turner sold that company less than four years after launching it, which provided him resources for a new startup.
“I really wanted to do something around climate mitigation,” he said. He investigated electric aviation, but this was about a decade ago and he felt it was too soon and too costly to go into that space.
His wife had a Prius, which led him to exploring ways to convert combustion-engine cars into plug-in vehicles. He ultimately connected with kindred spirits at the Oregon EV Association, which became the inspiration and catalyst to founding OpConnect.
Part of Turner’s focus is making access to EVs and chargers more equitable, and he has a target of installing 25% of OpConnect chargers in low-income communities. He’s pursuing that goal in part by working with groups such as Forth Mobility to bring EV car-sharing programs to underserved communities, and participating with the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities and Communities coalition.
The new investment round was led by Los Angeles-based The 22 Fund. Other participants include Reinventure Capital, Community Development Venture Capital Alliance (CDVCA), Portland Seed Fund and E8.
Other Pacific Northwest companies developing EV charging technologies include:
- Electric Era, a Seattle startup manufacturing charging stations that include batteries to provide an alternative to pulling power from the grid.
- FlexCharging, a Redmond, Wash., startup developing software for EV charging during energy off-peak hours.
- Hypercharge Networks, a Vancouver, B.C.-based company selling charging hardware and software.