Invisible Urban Charging

By Nigel Broomhall

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About

Invisible Urban Charging

 

 

fromthefounders

We founded Invisible Urban with the goal of accelerating the shift to electrification of transport through two major objectives:

1. Make EV charging easy for parking operators and increase the amount of EV chargers available

2. Make EV charging blend into the urban environment, not become an eyesore

We are from very different worlds. Jake trained as a lawyer, then went on to lead Parking Sense Global to the leader in parking technology as Global CEO. Nigel's career has spanned finance, IT with IBM and energy, with EV charging in the last few years. Over lunch at Swashbucklers in Auckland just after Jake had returned to NZ, we discussed starting an EV charging business together focussing on the US market first. We agreed, shook hands and we were off. 50:50. Our main rule: life's too short to work with dickheads.

Between that date and despite the world tilting with COVID, we began work on building our capabilities, lining up a team of A players, signing some master agreements and designing our hero product. Here’s what we achieved before we all got locked down:

— Eileen Murray of Bridgewater Associates signed on as our strategic mentor

— We lined up a team of 14A players to get us off the ground and flying

— We completed 3 trips to the US and signed an exclusive EV Charging master parking agreement for 122,290 carparks for 10 years (15 large customers). During our time in New York we started conversations with a number of VCs.

— We designed our hero product and lined up our hardware and firmware development team

— We scoped our software platform requirements and started working with a leading NZ company on design.

Our first capital raise was going to be through US based VCs - that just made sense for our strategy. The combination of Covid and a large number of friends and family wanting to invest has changed our approach. Our first round is now going to be completed in NZ and future rounds will likely be raised in the US.

The EV charging infrastructure industry has a forecast CAGR of 41.8% over the next 10 years. As an example there are now more charging stations (not outlets) in the UK than gas stations. And they don’t have enough.

And while the US may be behind by some margin (less than 0.5% of all vehicles are electric), this will change as more models come to market. There is a reason Tesla is now the worlds most valuable car company and it’s not just Elon's personality.

We built a customer base of 15 large customers, enabling exclusive rights to the installation and supply of Invisible Urban charging infrastructure to 122,290 car parks with a contract value of $56.2mUSD. We come from hard-working, do-what-it-takes stock and we are going to create massive value for our team.  Get in early and be a part of this exciting opportunity. 

Nigel Broomhall (CEO) & Jake Bezzant (Chair)
Co-Founders

 

 

 

Electric vehicles are actually nothing new. The first cars on the roads in the late 18th and early 19th century were all electric. And they were loved, particularly by women. No fumes, no need to crank anything to get it moving, clean, quiet, smooth. Henry Fords wife Clara actually refused to drive a petrol car, prefering a vehicle that was 'more reliable'. There were thousands of EVs in New York from 1905 to 1915. And there were charging stations all over town so you could charge while you shop. And then oil subsidies and the electric starter motor killed the EV. Dial forward to 2021 and we're back to the EV again. Smooth, quiet, reliable, and with excellent range, EVs are taking over the world. 

Charging infrastructure, while a necessary part of the puzzle in shifting the world to electric, is often an after thought. The car is the s3xy (Tesla geeks will get that one) part. The way it is fueled is something buyers often worry about later. Having worked in the electricity industry, and being involved with EVs since 2009 we are intimately aware of the challenges associated with charging EVs. The good news is that like batteries, EV charging infrastructure has evolved and most use-cases can be solved with smart people and smart hardware.

The wolrd is on the knifes edge of a tipping point. The magic acceleration point in most technologies is 5%. Once you hit 5% adoption you start accelerating up the S curve in a logarithmic fashion. In 2020 the global plug in EV sales hit 4.8% of total car sales (source: Bloomberg Green). Many commentators have now openly stated we are 'past the point of no return'. Now global uptake accelerates.

The team at Invisible Urban are ideally placed to ride this wave with the experience and the global network to make something massive.

 

 

 

sizeofthemarket


The US, like Australia, currently lags the rest of the world in EV take-up. But when they catch up the infrastructure investment is mind-boggling. The Parking Operator group globally is a very small and close-knit group of individuals and these people value loyalty and personal relationships first and know with the right team they can create value.  We are connected directly into this group. Our first Master Contract is to provide EV chargers exclusively for the next 10 years to 122,290 carparks across 15 customers.

 


The EU in totality is a similar size to the US market, but much more fragmented increasing complexity. The Directors currently work with 3 major European EV charger manufacturers so we have direct experience with this market simplifying market entry. We will look to Europe once we have established a strong presence in the US which is likely to be 2023 onwards.

 

smartinfastructure

The heart of our strategy is deploying smart infrastrcuture into the field which is connected 24/7/365 to a central software platform. While the parking building chargers are more traditional and will be provided by our current suppliers, the external EV chargers will blend seamlessly into the urban environment, reducing visual pollution while still encouraging EV uptake. This positions IU well with urban planners across the top 10 Smart Cities of the US (NY, Cedar Rapids, Austin, Columbus, LaGrange, Fresno, Louisville, San Francisco, Pittsburg, Boulder) and is a real differentiator.

 

 

 


In our initial phase we will be installing chargers into parking buildings using existing partners and standard communication protocols. Our hero product however will be designed and tested in NZ and then assembled/manufactured in the USA/Europe once we have our commercial product. This will showcase NZs capabilities as mechanical and electrical engineers and we are committed to continual innovation with the IP developed in NZ and manufactured close to the market. This also reduces our carbon footprint and ensures materials are transported in an efficient manner reducing logistic costs and complexity.

We exist to accelerate the transition to electric transport by providing simple, beautiful and safe EV charging infrastructure.

 

 

 

About our Team

 

Nigel Broomhall, Co-Founder & Global CEO

Nigel Broomhall is the global CEO, and has an extensive international career spanning finance, energy and IT. His broad experience spanning 26 years includes running NZ based EV charging businesses, building a global consulting business, and operating in public and state owned enterprises. He combines both a strategic persepctive and an entreprenuers heart and believes strongly in the value of sales to business success. Accelerating the worlds transition to electric transport is the mission that drives him and the scratch he wants to leave. 

 

Jake Bezzant, Co-Founder and Chair

Jake is a lawyer by training and previously grew and ran the largest guided parking company in the world. He is driven by a desire to transform the New Zealand economy by embracing new technology. Jake has an extensive network throughout the US and Europe and knows how to set up and run businesses in the US.

 

Jane Rowse, Global COO

Jane our COO is a global programme manager by training and has been running the digital programme globally for McDonalds. She thrives on massivley complex programmes of work and has the tenacity and drive to deliver programmes of work to successful completion.

 

Todd Cantley, UX designer & Digital Guru

Todd is our digital go-to and he cut his teeth at Google, various startups in Europe and Bain & Co. Todd is driven by the detail, he works through the intricacies of how people use technology and loves continually improving the customer experience at every touchpoint.

 

David Broadhurst, Head of Hardware

David is a hardware guru and has been working on hardware design and firmware in NZ for the past 10 years. He has designed hardware and firmware systems for helicopter mounted camera gimbals as well as retractable bollards. David is committed to product quality and designing products to last in a variety of environments and applications.

 

 

What we've done so far

what-weve-done-so-far

After founding the company in late 2019, we ran 3 trips into the US in the first quarter of 2020 where we signed up 51,000 carparks for the next 10 years to exclusively provide them EV charging infrastructure as-a-service. Then during COVID lockdowns we grew this to 122,290. We've also recently been approached by a major US metropolitain to provide them with 450 public EV chargers. The world is making a massive shift to electric transport and we have the skills to take advantage.

 

 

What's next?

whats-next?

IU Charging is seeking to raise $2 million of investment capital in support of our business strategy.

Current shares on issue

There are 2,000,000 shares on offer through our crowdfunding investor and raise which will bring the company to a total of 10,000,000 shares.

There are two types of shares on offer: Class B Investor shares and Class A Ordinary shares (read the IM to see the full detail). Class A Ordinary shares shall have the same rights attaching to them as the existing shareholders in the company including the right to vote at shareholders meetings.

Class B Investor Shares shall carry non-voting rights at a shareholders meeting.

The next steps for us are big ones because we don't think or act small. From our capital raise we will be:

- signing up our US based CEO who has been directly involved in the US Smart Cities work

- finalising and testing our protoype retractable charger in the field in NZ

- installing our first projects in the US (using traditional EV chargers in buildings)

- selling our products and services to more businesses. Sales is the life blood of business and we will drive this hard.

Our ultimate aim is to grow this company over the next 10 years into a global top 10 player and list it providing those who backed us early with a great return.

 

 

Risks and Challenges

COVID has locked up the world

Getting in and out of NZ is a real challenge. While we can get out of the country, getting back in is challenging with the MIQ backlog. We're mitigating this risk by employing a contact we trust to drive the business in the US, and leveraging our relationship with our strategic mentor Eileen Murray. Our US CEO has direct experience working with the top 10 smart cities in a previous role at Google. The founders are also prepared to get on a plane and head to the US to get things moving, while balancing personal risk.

 

We are working directly with major US banks to underwrite our projects, and applying for Federal and State incentive programmes to reduce installation costs. There is a massive appetite globally to shift investments away from fossil fuels and into renewable focused technologies such as EV charging infrastructure.

 


Existing competitors are a risk however we have taken a very focused approach and our business model hands most of the utilisation revenue back to the parking operator. We also focus on starting small, proving our solution and then growing. The overall market required to meet demand is going to grow exponentially requiring all players to get infrastrcuture in the ground quickly so our key challenge is to get successful projects in the ground and build rapidly.

 


Technology is another risk and we mitigate this by signing up the site and then deploying technology over the next decade, changing the technology as it matures. While we are starting with a traditional charging cable technology we also have evaluated inductive charging (currently too expensive and inefficient), and various alternative communication protocols in the charging hardware.

 


If we can't hit our funding target in NZ we will capital raise in the US through our existing contacts.

 

A note from PledgeMe

We have completed Veda checks on the company, Invisible Urban (IU) Charging Limited, and their Directors, as well as Google checks. An article was found related to Jake Bezzant's political career, and he refute the claims presented in that article as without any evidence. There were no other adverse findings. 

 

 

Updates 19

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Less than 24 hours....

21/03/2021 at 6:44 PM

Less than 24 hours to go.....

Going, Going, Gone!

As this round of funding closes out, we thought it only fitting to thank some of the stand outs on our PledgeMe campaign to date:

- to all our family and close friends. You have been the foundation of the investors in this round and we love you all. So far we have parents, brothers, cousins (quite a few cousins - cheers guys!), aunties and uncles and a whole lot of mates. You jumped in early and showed huge faith. Thank you.

- to the $100k & $250k single investors we salute you. Thanks for jumping in our our journey and showing the faith, you rocked us past the minimum.

- to the $1m dollar man (yes it was a man!). Tim, you'll always have that badge of honor my friend.

- to old work colleagues. There's quite a few energy leaders in this bunch which we were blown away by - cheers

- to the small army of real estate titans -  you guys jumped in and then went a second (and some a third) time! Cheers.

The SET100 awards was another small highlight that happened during this fundraising journey. Ironically the first group to reach out was from Sweden, the second from Spain. We've got some real interest from a major car OEM which makes me think we could interest some others. A product on our roadmap in particular (autonomous vehicle charging) has really sparked some interest. We're going to take that interest and leverage it up.

With less than 24 hours to go, feel free to fire up friends and family who have been sitting on the fence. I have been asked if we will do another round here in NZ and while funding (in the US) is definitely a major milestone in 12-18 months, now we have to focus on delivering projects and signing new customers. Raising funds is a necessary part of business, but while it is like the electrons you use to fill your EV, you don't want to just be doing a tour of EV charging stations. We're going to get on with taking the business to the next level now.

Once we've kicked a few more goals, then we are going to need a whole lot of capital and we just don't see this being realistically rasied in NZ. As highlighted previously, there will not be another opportunity to invest in IU when this round closes until a possible listing. 

Global Awards, 5 days to go, US mentor team and more!

17/03/2021 at 12:56 PM

Five days to go ! - Cool Ski Jobs

It's been a crazy week for the team at Invisible Urban (IU) so this update will have a few twists and turns, so strap yourselves in!

Following on from IU getting into the final 100 (and the top 17 in our category) at the Start Up Energy Transition awards, we were immediately approached by two innovation incubators to work with them. One includes a global car manufacturer and a telecommunications giant so we were pretty stoked to be approached. The other is a global network of venture capitalists with a focus on eMobility. We meet with both of them on Thursday night to talk next steps!!

Join the Council at Berlin Energy Week! | World Energy Council

In our discussions with Eileen, she is working with her network to broaden our strategic advisory board and the leader she has connected us with out of the gate is an amazing woman, also based in New York. We're working hard to get her on board because she is an incredibly talented leader and will bring enormous value to our team. Sorry I can't tell you more - we should be able to provide more details before the investment round closes, but everyone on board will find out when we sign her up.

And another suitably vague update....we have another amazing woman lined up for our team who will be stateside in October. She's currently heavily involved in a certain boat race, so (fingers crossed!) she may have some time coming available by the end of today! I have worked with her in the past and she is just an amazing powerhouse who also loves the mission we are on.

5 days to go!!! OK so with only 5 days to go I'd just like to thank those who have jumped onto our journey, and remind anyone still on the fence of our high level plan for next steps:

- initial projects. We're going to pick a couple of key sites and get hardware in the ground. These will be used to promote the company in the next capital raise

- software and hardware. Finishing our prototype and the software platform and protecting IP.

- major city signing. We intend to sign at least one major metro (we have started discussions with 2 already) and then move to the next capital raise at a much higher US based valuation. These clients demonstrate more forward revenue, and will get us huge attention and add a lot of value to our company.

We won't be raising again in NZ - this round was focused on family and friends and we are stoked with everyone who has signed up. So why wouldn't we raise again in NZ?

1. The capital market in NZ is very thin and NZ venture capitalists (VCs) prefer to take controlling positions in investments and then either push the founding team aside or kick them out (from personal experience). We think this is stupid because no-one is more passionate and driven than founders. We also know that you have invested in us as much as our business and we don't want to let you down.

2. The clean-tech/ESG market in the US is 'white hot' (to quote an NZTE contact of mine) and while they won't invest on a cloud funding platform (their words), when we raise in the US its game on.

3. Investors in NZ invest in thousands, US investors invest in millions. In the words of a couple of VCs we talked to "we don't look at anything below $20m. It's as much effort to invest $20m as it is to invest $1m so why bother". Yep, its a bit different.

4. The US is forecast to be back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year. While the NZ economy is potentially looking weak and by some accounts getting weaker, the US economy is going gangbusters and is built on hope and aspirations (oh and lots of debt!). This is a wave we are going to ride. Check out the details on US economic forecasts HERE

When we raise in the US this will potentially present an event where initial investors can cash out some or all of their investment. While we make no promises, we'll let you know when this is happening.

We are into the finals of a global award!

11/03/2021 at 4:57 PM

#SET100 Certified! We are excited to announce we have been selected as one of the top 100 energy and mobility start-ups of 2021 by Start Up Energy Transition (SET)!

Invisible Urban Charging is the only New Zealand company listed in the finals for the global Start Up Energy Transition awards in 2021!! These awards are held annually by the German Energy Council and the World Energy Council.

The SET100 is an annual compilation of the 100 best start-ups of the SET Award. 543 start-ups from 89 countries applied for the SET Award 2021 and we are proud to be among the top 100. We will be presenting live next Tuesday at 4am NZ time.

 

Check out the full list here: https://bit.ly/3eElznZ

 

There are 17 companies in our category, and the finalists through to the next stage have the chance to win:

- 10,000 EURO

- our company profiled across the World Energy Council

- access to exclusive events workdwide

- investor matchmaking

- return flights for two to Berlin

 

Just by getting in the top 100 we are featured in a global publication, circulated to investors, corporates and political stakeholders across the globe.

 

Just another reasons to join us on our EV journey! Jump in today:)

As we close in on $1m, we thank you.

08/03/2021 at 10:14 PM

As we get close to $1m, we'd like to take the chance to thank all those who have jumped on our EV journey. Going through the list it just blows us away that we've had so many family (brothers, cousins), friends, colleagues from our past and present, members of the PledgeMe team, and investors who are just passionate about clean technology. The faith you have shown in us is appreciated and we will be doing everything we can to 'make it grow' (cheers to my brother for that line!).

As we mentioned in our video, we had a number of family and friends who knew what we were doing, and approached us about potentially investing. But while you go into something like this with high hopes, we were realistic - our company isn't as sexy as some of the other companies raising on PledgeMe.

For all those still sitting on the fence, here's the summary of our business:

- we offer a solution to 3 problems facing parking operators: compliance with new laws, increasing the number of people using their parking buildings/sites, and increasing revenue

- we make EV charging simple. We provide the hardware, installation, monitoring, management and monetisation for a monthly base fee and a transaction fee

- we grow with a parking operators needs. We have an exclusive master agreement for 5+5 years for 122,290 car parks and we increase EV chargers as customer demand grows (which we measure)

- we have existing supplier agreements for US-compliant EV chargers and we're designing our own cutting-edge charger for cities which doesn't clutter up the streets

With 2 weeks to go we're on the cusp of $1m. With your help we can get to $2m. Onwards and upwards!

Our Aspirations - We're "Shooting for the Stars"

07/03/2021 at 3:41 PM

Peter Becks Rocket Lab is currently listing on the NASDAQ using a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). This listing process will value the company at well over $4bn USD, a simply stunning milestone. But it isn't the financial achievement of this NZ grown team that really stood out for me, it was Peter's comment around ambition. He highlighted that the same type of entreprenuer he is networking with in the US is aiming to build $1bn companies versus Kiwi entreprenuers only aiming for $100m (8 minutes in on the RNZ interview in the Stuff article below). 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/300243610/is-rocket-lab-our-sputnik-moment

Building a company is incredibly hard, and Peters point is that you might as well aim as high as you can because it takes the same amount of effort. Well not exactly. You see creating a $1bn company in NZ is incredibly hard. But creating companies of this scale in much larger markets, while still incredibly hard, has a much higher change of success. I had the chance to join a dinner Peter was at last year, and he struck me as incredibly smart and incredibly focused, and someone to learn from so when he said this, I listened.

When you think of NZ unicorns (private startups that have grown to be worth more than $1bn - globally there are 536 of them, 274 in the US), you can't go past Allbirds, and now of course Rocket Lab. Allbirds raised their first seed fund of $119,000 in 5 days on Kickstarter, and then went on to raise another $7.25m(USD) from investors in their first year of business. Allbirds completed a further $50m and it is valued at more that $1.7bnUSD today.

What did these amazing Kiwi-launched companies have in common? The ambition of the founder. I'm a huge fan of Darren Hardys' works, and I've listened to my audible version of The Entreprenuer Roller Coaster at least 15 times while driving. Darren was the former publisher of Success magazine, and it was one interview in particular that stood out for me. Darren interviewed a leader in the US who ran a real estate development that completes 200 homes a day. 16,000 employees, $1bn/year in revenue. When asked what the growth constraints were, the founder said 'his ambition'. "The only constraint of a companys growth and potential is the owners ambition. I am the constraint. The market, the opportunity, everything is there. It's up to me to set the pace, clear the obstacles, get the resources, and create the conversations to grow the company faster."

So when Peter told Kiwi's to 'shoot for the stars', this principle stood out for me. The transport electrification market is there and the growth will be massive. The US has 276m vehicles and only just over 1m are electric, a great place to start. And as for market cap, well, lets just say our ambitions are also massive.

What that means for everyone who has, and will, jump onto our transport electrification journey before this round closes, is that you will hear us talk about being 100% focused on growth. Growth is funded by sales, so for those big strategic sales you'll find us at the front of these deals, and we'll make sure you hear about the wins. 

To launch as hard and fast as possible we want to get as close to our maximum raise of $2m as we can. So let your friends, family and networks know that you've joined the IU journey and its going to be all about growth, and maybe they should have a look too.

A California city has just voted to ban new gas stations...

04/03/2021 at 6:18 PM

In case you thought the US was all about gas-guzzling V8s and weren't getting serious about transport electrification! Petaluma, California, just finalised an amendment to ban the construction of new gas stations on Monday this week. They have also moved to streamline the process for building new EV stations (yes we are reaching out to them as I write this...). And they aim to be carbon nuetral by 2030.

 

Petaluma, a beautiful historic town in California.

There are 16 gas stations in the town today and while they won't be forced to close, they won't be allowed to add any more pumps. They will however be encouraged (and allowed) to add EV charging stations. The wave is forming and we're ready (with your help) to ride it!

Heres the article from Business Insider HERE

2 days private, 7 days public and we're at the minimum!

04/03/2021 at 11:30 AM

Wow. Here at IU we're passionate about accelerating the transition to electric transport and generating a fantastic return for our family of investors, but we're blown away at the support you've shown us. Thank you. We have blazed through our minimum and we still have 18 days to hit our maximum of $2m.

We also got some news which we can make public yet (we can next week). IU Charging has been shortlisted for a global energy award for early stage companies. Once the embargoe on the details is lifted, you our IU family, will be the first to know all about it:)

So where to from here? Well we believe that there are a few large investors who have been watching this campaign to see how it goes, and now we've hit the minimum they will jump in and grab the opportunity before we hit our cap. As we've said a few times, we won't raise again in NZ, the next funding round will be in the US, and we've already had some wholesale investors reach out to start a conversation. Raising money in the US is a little different to NZ. A large portion of investors won't entertain anything below $20m (in fact most won't go below $50m). So our focus will be to get projects in the ground and sign up some really large strategic customers (we have started this process already) and leverage this to increase the overall company valuation.

While the current master contract opportunity is significant, we want to go global. As founder of Seaworks Bill Day said at a corporate training day I attended once, "Bite off more than you can chew, and then chew like f&^k". In tech you have to move fast, both in sales and product development. And you have to go large. We intend to.

Volvos going all in on electric by 2030

03/03/2021 at 9:50 AM

There's a couple of biggies in this recent announcement from Volvo that will really shake up the car world.

(https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/evs/300243172/goodbye-gas-volvo-to-make-only-electric-vehicles-by-2030)

Volvo goes electric

Of course the headline is the easy one - Volvo will be all electric in its entire fleet by 2030. And this excludes hybrids - they are going all-in on EVs. Whoop whoop!!

The much larger impact for the traditional car world is the fact that you will only be able to buy them online, just like Tesla. One of the biggest barriers to rapid EV uptake you see is the current structure of the dealership network. Now the dealership model has done a stunning job for car manufacturers since the first dealership opened in 1898. Anybody in business knows that distribution is a major key to success (in our case we are working directly with parking operators at scale), having the ability to move large volumes of vehicles from manufacturing to key markets is a massive advantage. The challenge with the model is the margins on new vehicles are thin, and maintenance is a big part of the ongoing revenue stream. Electric vehicles however need ~80% less maintenance than a combustion engine vehicle. And the really high-end luxury versions, which need (you guessed it) more maintenance than standard vehicles and had great maintenance margins, will be replaced with high performance EVs that just don't need the same level of maintenance. Ouch. This is changing the way car manufacturers look at their distribution models and could be a huge challenge for the industry.

Of course the good news is that all of these EVs will need to be charged somewhere:) As well as the more traditional ways of charging, our clever engineers are also pressing me to design a completely new way to charge. I love Kiwi ingenuity so while we deliver our new charger to the market, we'll also keep working up this new concept. Because, just like the disruption coming down the pipe for the dealership model, it could be a game changer.

54% of the minimum....

03/03/2021 at 9:09 AM

Thanks to everyone who has pledged to date - we've gone through 50% of the minimum raise and we're rising!!

Our mission is to accelerate the transition to electric transport, with our focus market being the US because, well, its big and we can have more impact. And we're all about impact. But if we're going to do our bit and create the result below, we need to hit our minimum and get close to our max. So we need your help.

Aside from the amount you're already earmarked for investment (thanks!), here's what else you can do to help raise awareness:

- let family and friends know via the socials and at real social events:)

- send them the link to this page (make sure they are aware of the risks)

- share this link to pages you follow or are a member of that you think would be interested

Any efforts would be really appreciated. Of course please stay safe in these crazy times!

Reducing the risk of transmission

01/03/2021 at 11:59 AM

Here we go again New Zealand, another lockdown.

COVID

Now what may not have come through very clearly in our IM is that our EV charging solutions have been designed to minimise bacteria/virus transmission. This is because our retractable bollard for example, requires the EV driver to bring their own cable (BYOC), and you don't have to touch the charger to plug your cable in. You can lift the flap on the front of the socket with the end of your cable and then slide it in.

Research has indicated that viruses and bacteria can survive on plastic and steel surfaces like, for example, petrol pumps and attached EV charging cables.

https://electrek.co/2020/03/18/drivers-fear-coronavirus-risk-from-gas-pumps-the-filthiest-common-surface-in-america/

Our solution minimises this risk by design. In some situations and states we will need to install what we call tethered chargers (chargers with cables attached) but we firmly believe that socketed chargers are the way forward, for a bunch of reasons:

- cable ends don't get broken by being continuously dropped

- people look after and respect their own hardware versus public hardware

- its a safer way to charge

Another reason why the IU Charging solution is a winner!

Stay safe out there, and if you need to refuel, wash your hands ASAP!

....and we're through $200,000....

25/02/2021 at 9:54 AM

After just over 2 days we've rushed up to $218,550, which is ~44% of our minimum raise. Thank you to those who have put their faith in us.

We've had a couple of questions from friends and family, a couple of them we'd like to share with you.

"Will you remain a NZ company?". Short answer yes. We have proven our country to be highly resiliant in the face of a global pandemic, and we are attracting talent from across the world. We believe this will last beyond the time we manage to open up our borders fully again. We are focused on building the intellectual property here in NZ, and have localised manufacturing/assembly in the countries we operate in (initially the US). Kiwis are smart, flexible in their approach, and work hard to solve problems. This is a fantastic place to grow our technology.

"Why are you focused on the US and not NZ?". Simple answer - 276m vehicles and we have an established network. Breaking into a massive market like the US cold is extremely difficult. We have some strategic advantages others don't:

- one of our co-founders led a global parking company and was based in the US

- we have a strategic advisor in New York who has an extensive network, Eileen Murray

- we've established a relationship with the VP of the Renewable Energy Group at Goldman Sachs as a result of our relationship with Eileen

And the US is on the cusp of massive change (see the article below), which we are positioned to take advantage of. 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biden-send-electric-vehicle-revolution-003000793.html

While it certainly won't be easy to grow IU Charging in the US, we have the foundation pieces in place for success.

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Punching through $100k...

24/02/2021 at 1:46 PM

To all those who have jumped in early while the page is still set to private, we salute you and we're excited about having you with us on the journey ahead! $100k is a nice milestone to hit, and the fact that you were the first will not be forgotten.

The PledgeMe page opens up tonight at 6pm to the wider public, so if you've got someone looking (like yourselves) at getting in early, feel free to share the url.

Here's to transforming your investment into USD returns!

Thanks to all those who have jumped in early:)

23/02/2021 at 10:27 AM

Big thanks to all those who jumped straight in and made a pledge! I'd especially like to single out Jane Bell, who has been our guide and mentor throughout this journey. Your support is really appreciated.

As a self-confessed EV geek, I follow all the latest news and updates around the world. Relevant to our business ambitions in the US I thought you may find this article interesting:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmorris/2021/01/30/without-better-charging-infrastructure-the-ev-revolution-is-doomed/?sh=6ccdf42e7e50

The basic summary is the world will not be able to keep up with infrastructure demands once we all uncover for ourselves the benefits of electric transport (something we have been publicly stating for a couple of years now). Could be a great time to invest in an EV charging infrastructure company;)

    Details

    Offer Details

    Current Valuation 8,000,000
    Raise Minimum 500,000
    Raise Maximum 2,000,000
    Share Price 1.00
    Minimum Pledge 1,000.00
    Maximum Shares Offered 2,000,000
    Explanation of valuation:

    We have used the forecast revenue for 2021 at a 5x multiplier then discounted this by 20%

    Financial Summary

    Prev Year Current Year Est. FY 2025 Est. FY 2026
    Revenue NZ $ NZ $0 NZ $2,610,000 NZ $13,201,000
    Operating Expenses NZ $ -NZ $160 NZ $1,836,000 NZ $5,030,000
    EBITDA NZ $ -NZ $160 -NZ $683,000 NZ $1,277,000
    Net Profit NZ $ -NZ $160 -NZ $683,000 NZ $272,000

    Company Details

    Company Name: Invisible Urban Charging

    Company Number: 7761356

    Company Documents

    Documents no longer available to download, as this campaign has closed

    Director Details

    Name Role Profile URL Invested?
    Nigel Broomhall CEO https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelbroomhall/
    Jake Bezzant Chair https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakebezzant/

    Questions 12


    Hi Nigel,
    A few questions:
    Do any competitors operate a BYC service?
    Will the POs have cables to hire when needed?
    Has IU approached the NZGIF for investment?
    Thanks,
    Angus

    Posted on 21-03-2021 by Angus Napier

    Hi Angus - some good questions (and one that's a little 'sensitive'). In the BYC cable there are not a lot of players, most have installed tethered machines and these have been installed for a while. I've seen a couple of ChargerPoint and Greenlots installations with BYC machines but not many. The advantage with this is the feedback we have had from cities and developers is they hate them and want an alternative. We will have cables available as part of our offering and we're working on a monthly subscription service for EV drivers which includes a cable as part of the deal.

    PO's will have cables available, but not all are manned. We are looking at potential local distributors for cables which are in close proximity to the parking building, but this tends to be a one and done purchase for ~3 years so the direct website sale with fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) is our preferred option (next day delivery in the US - a little different to NZ!).

    OK so the more 'sensitive' question you've asked is the NZGIF one. I approached them for investment in May 2020 and we were told that although we sit in the sweet spot from a clean tech perspective, and we have customers, unfortunately because those customers are in the US we don't qualify. I must admit I was a little confused over this - we are going to create NZ jobs in clean tech, keep IP here in NZ, and use US income to fund it. At that time they had not made an investment in 2 years. I contrast that with the immediate contact made with us from a Swedish Government funded corporate consortium charged with bringing innovative new companies to Gothenberg when we got into the SET100. My observation is I hear a lot of talk about wanting NZ to do well in the tech space, but the action we all see is more and more tech companies going offshore. The US is number one globally for total R&D spend, and 11th by GDP%. NZ is 45th by total spend and 32nd by GDP%. Sweden is 19th for total spend and 4th by GDP%. Technology, and specifically clean technology is the engine of the fourth industrial revolution. Renewable energy, transport electrification and advanced mobility, grid-scale battery storage - the countries focused on growing companies focused on these critical foundations of our next big revolution will stand out from those that don't in my opinion. And all of these technologies align beautifully with NZ as a country. Instead we seem more than happy to see the future pioneers of these technologies struggle with bootstrapped startups and either fail or head away overseas. Supporting and growing technology companies here, and then ensuring NZ benefits from this investment with commercial arrangements is not something that wouldn't appeal to entrepreneurs. An innovation grant with a commercial contract to improve mobility/energy/etc in a major NZ city on favourable terms once commercialised would be lapped up by entrepreneurs. While I'll admit I had high hopes for the NZGIF, I just don't see that type of innovative thinking coming through. Well certainly not from discussions I've had.

    Answered on 22-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


    Hi Nigel, Jake,
    The constitution has a schedule 5 but no schedules 3 and 4. Do these schedules exist?
    Thanks,
    Angus

    Posted on 20-03-2021 by Angus Napier

    Hi Angus, great spotting! Editing error - schedule 5 should be schedule 3 and be referenced as such. We will amend.

    Answered on 21-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


    That’s a great response Nigel! As usual you’ve answered back with a smart, solid response. I completely agree and am happy as Larry to be in early. I’m very excited, as you must be also, to see what the new additions can do for “Us”!

    Posted on 18-03-2021 by Scott

    Hi Nigel,

    With what I’ve read here and in the offer you anticipate going public in roughly five years time. You mention more rounds of private funding in North America. My question is with the dramatic increase of tech stocks in 2020 and a bit of Cat n Mouse in 2021 why wouldn’t you want to get something solid in the books and then go public riding the tech wave of today supposed to 2025/26?
    I’m in for the long haul as I’ve done this before and done well went companies went public. Just wanting to understand a bit better why wait if we can catch a good wave earlier? Cheers and excited mate!

    Posted on 18-03-2021 by Scott

    Nice one Scott;) You raise an interesting point, and it is something we have discussed internally. SPACs and the whole market has gone nuts for ESG/Clean Tech in the last couple of months and that will run through this year as money flows from old tech (fossil fuels etc) to new/clean tech. We're really focused on building a fast-growth company, but we don't want to give away the baby with the bath water i.e. go now when we haven't signed more customers and we're still a bit unknown so our value is low. Advice we've received is to focus on signing up more customers, specifically some high-profile major metros and then for the next round (whatever that may look like) we can value up significantly in US dollars.

    This means those that get in now could (no promises) get a 'liquidity event' if they want to get out at a reasonable multiplier. Although as I said to my two brothers who have tipped in, if I come to you and offer to buy your shares in the next round, say no. But each investor, if presented with that opportunity, will need to make their own call, my family included.

    It's a crazy market compared to NZ, so we're taking a lot of advice from our mentor Eileen Murray. When we sign up some major new clients her team are going to lead our PR programme which will raise profile and value. Personally I would love to ride the wave to unicorn, but that's what all entrepreneurs say;) We are focused on building a great team, with great products and generating a great return for our shareholders.

    Answered on 18-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


    Hi, where will the product be made?

    Posted on 17-03-2021 by fiona heares

    Great question Fiona! Here's our plan:

    - all design work is done in New Zealand
    - the first bollards will be manufactured in NZ also (Auckland)
    - shift manufacturing of 'heavy' components (steel) and all final assembly offshore to the markets we sell into (initially the US) to reduce carbon emissions and costs. To take advantage of local incentives this will be required.
    - keep design, and manufacturing of sensitive components in NZ

    As an Apple fan boy I like the 'designed in California' aspect of the machines which makes them cool. We will build on the fact that NZ is cool and that having products designed here is a great thing.

    For the parking building chargers we are using existing manufacturers that we have experience dealing with, who have UL compliant hardware. We will review this as we scale.

    Answered on 18-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


    Hi. You mentioned that you have a head start on other players due to your contacts. Are you actively working to develop any intellectual property? How confident are you that you are not infringing any one else's? Will car parks etc buy or lease the chargers? Will they have any incentive to upgrade to newer models? Thanks

    Posted on 12-03-2021 by Quinn Miller

    Hi Quinn - IP is a good question. In regards to the specific design and components of our new EV charger, we have developed IP around this and we are confident we are not infringing on anyone else's. IP protection is a race because eventually companies find ways to copy, so you really have to stay ahead of the game. In regards to the retractable bollard product, because we have a charging-as-a-service model and we own the hardware we won't be selling it to a company to pull apart, analyse and copy. In our product roadmap we have new products planned, as well as designs on how to improve installation processes.

    Parking operators and cities effectively lease the solution from us and we provide the monitoring, management and monetisation services for a flat recurring monthly fee. In this way we can continue to innovate with the market and then upsell customers to new technology as we develop it. One technology we have a watching brief on for example is inductive. It's still expensive and inefficient compared to a copper cable but it is evolving.

    We certainly see the opportunity for smart infrastructure evolving and we want to drive this with our customers. As sensors and and connectivity costs continue to decline in price, owning the master contract with the customer enables us upgrade the hardware based on new components and sell these to the customer. For parking buildings, depending on the use-case there may be little incentive to upgrade, but for cities and major new developments they will want to upgrade bollards with new functionality as it is developed. We are also focused on reducing the costs of manufacturing, while maintaining quality.

    Answered on 14-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


    Hi, how do investors receive a return on investment thanks? I see you've mentioned dividends, and in the company white paper it states "The Board will keep a register of interested
    investors which will be made available to current investors looking to sell their share parcel". But how will an investor know how much their shares are worth, and if selling 'in house' if a legitimate price is applied? How will 'interested investors' find out about you, and then get on your list? And how often will dividends be paid etc?
    I'm keen to invest, but the main hard hitting question from me is how will I know what my share price is (if not on the NZX or ASX), and how do I cash some or all of my investment out should the time arise? Also who will be 'policing' your company to make sure you don't drive off into the sunset in the latest Ferrari purchased with investors money? LOL.

    Posted on 10-03-2021 by Andrew Aitken

    Hi Andrew. I'm not sure you're read our IM - our mission is to accelerate the transition to electric transport so if anything we'd drive off in a Tesla rather than a Ferrari LOL. Luckily I already drive one of those so there's no risk to our investors;) We are also subject to the Companies Act 1993. A good section related to your comment is section 131: Duty of directors to act in good faith and in the best interests of the company. A Ferrari would fail this test.

    In terms of return on investment, it basically works like this:
    - we use the money invested to grow the business
    - we will raise more money in the future (in the US) to grow the business as fast as we can (tech companies are all about growth)
    - anyone registering interest for future raises will be notified, but this will likely be in USD
    - every subsequent raise will be at higher valuations based on hitting growth/sales targets (every raise will be based on a company valuation but we won't be posting this on a regular basis)
    - if there is an opportunity for existing shareholders to release their shares into the new raise we will let you know prior to the raise

    Because we are all about growth (see page 10), dividends will not be paid in the short term, rather any profits will be reinvested into growing the company. Opportunities to cash-out are therefore intentionally limited so you should approach this investment as a 5+yr hold and be aware of the risks outlined at the bottom of this page and in our IM. This is a private company investment, not a listed company investment so you won't get a regular update of your share value.

    If you are looking for an investment that is low risk, provides a daily investment value, has regular dividends and can be cashed out easily, then this is not the right investment for you. If instead you are looking for an investment into a Kiwi company that is focused on growing as big as we can in the US market (then globally), has an existing network giving us a 2-3yr advantage on other foreign companies trying to crack this market, and will review listing in the next 4-5 years, then we could be.

    Answered on 10-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


    Is there any conflict of interest between Chargesmart and IU Charging? It seems as if they focus on totally different areas but just need to ask the question. Thankyou.

    Posted on 07-03-2021 by pamela jenkins

    That is a well researched and excellent question Pamela, as Nigel is currently listed as CEO of both organisations. ChargeSmart is focused solely on the NZ market and covers both EV charging and solar (we recently purchased the solar business from Mercury in Feb), and has no plans to go offshore. IU Charging is focused on global markets and will develop some products which we will sell in NZ through distributors, like ChargeSmart (which makes logical sense), but this is not our focus. The only products we would sell in NZ are to meet the requirements of shareholders as per the Investor Perks, otherwise all energy goes into the US market initially.

    The macro challenge is focus and time. IU Charging will demand a significant amount of time and energy to make it the success we want it to be. This is going to require a new leader for ChargeSmart and this process is currently underway.

    Answered on 08-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


    Do you have any plan to list on NZX or ASX

    Posted on 04-03-2021 by Amit Jain

    Great question Amit. Over a 5 year time frame the business plan has a couple of different scenarios, depending on how we are positioned in the market. We haven't onto locked any one scenario at this stage as it will depend on growth against forecast, markets we are predominately operating in, and scale of the business. Listing is definitely one of the scenarios but in which market has not been decided.

    Answered on 04-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


    Kia ora kōrua! As an EV owner, I am definitely behind this idea. I am curious how diverse your company is in terms of employees, contractors, etc. Of the 14 folks you have lined up to work in the US on this push, how many are people of colour? Women? Are you an equal opportunity employer? Do you have plans for any kind of community/charitable giving programmes as your company grows in future? I'm interested in investing, but place a high value on social progress that goes beyond electrification of the transport fleet, and would like to know where you stand on this. Ngā mihi, J.

    Posted on 04-03-2021 by Jordana

    Awesome question Jordana, and a very hot topic for our strategic advisor, Eileen Murray (google her)! And good on you for leading the charge:)

    In terms of the team, the founding leadership team has two women, and a key person for us is Eileen in the US. We are all about building a team that has shared values and the strengths we need to win, and diversity of thought and backgrounds is critical to achieving this. Kaitiaki is something that resonates, and is a concept I was introduced to by Ngai Tahu. We see urban planners as guardians of urban environments (urban Kaitiaki) and our EV chargers and specifically our retractable bollard is designed to align with this. Our core team will be primarily made up of Kiwis who reflect this perspective and we are open to anyone with the strengths we need.

    In regards to community/charitable programmes as we grow, we are passionate about this and it is something we have hotly debated. Carbon zero is important and we will focus on achieving and retaining this (I led the carboNZero programme for Meridian Energy so have direct experience with this), and we are also looking at offsetting programmes like well-capping in the US and tree planting. I believe the biggest impact we can have is by deploying EV charging infrastructure at scale that breaks down the concept of range anxiety and gets more people into EVs faster. Every internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle replaced by an EV has ~$10,000 in social benefits due to air quality (Ontario Health research 2020), and the most impact is at the vulnerable parts of society so we need to balance where we focus. Access to chargers, particularly in poorer areas is something that has been raised by a US city we are in discussions with, so we will have a solution for this. EVs as you know are ~90% less expensive to maintain and 80% cheaper to fuel - as a catalyst for mobility amongst the poorer parts of society once capital costs come down they have the potential to be a game changer. We see cheap autonomous vehicles (which will be electric) as another massive transformation technology for society, significantly reducing mobility costs, and we have designs in the wings for ways to charge these autonomously. For the first phase of our programme funded by this capital raise, we will be focused on getting some projects off the ground, signing up a major metropolitan city, and then a subsequent capital raise. By the time this raise occurs we will have a clear programme in place, informed by what is relevant in the market we are operating in.

    Answered on 04-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


    Hi Guys,
    Are the shares voting or non voting? If non-voting why?

    Posted on 26-02-2021 by Maurice Greenough

    Great question Maurice.

    There are two types of shares on offer: voting (ordinary) and non-voting (investor). The threshold (as outlined in the IM) for ordinary shares with full voting rights is $35,000, with everything below this non-voting, but equal in every other way (dividends, asset distribution, receive notices and the right to attend shareholder meetings). We have structured it this way because of the feedback we received from family and friend investors - below a certain level they were simply looking to get involved but didn't want to get involved with steering the direction of the company given it is technology and focused on offshore markets. Those who indicated a desire to get involved in the direction of the company (voting rights) were generally above this investment threshold.

    At this stage in the companies development it also made things a lot simpler from a governance perspective as well.

    Answered on 28-02-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


    Hi, it looks that EV's can and will run longer without a charge as new models are released. EV's should come with the ability to charge at home over night also. Would you not expect to get a full days use without a charge during the day, at least in the future, similar to how we might use a mobile phone for a days use? I could be incredibly wrong, and happy to be so, but is there a trend you see or do EV's not come with home charge or is it too expensive that way or is there not going to be a home charge option in the future. I'd say the old petrol service station will be hoping for this so Wild Bean can continue selling coffees and pies! Would love to hear your thoughts on the future and the need for a charge in the middle of the day.

    Cheers,

    Andy

    Posted on 24-02-2021 by Andy Connor

    Great question Andy. You are right that EVs are coming out with larger batteries and more range (our two EVs have 380km and 450km ranges today). They really need too, or the technology won't move from early adopters to the mainstream, The good news is they are and quickly - once you have a range of 300-350km+ range anxiety disappears.

    In terms of charging, the major paradigm shift is from a 'drive it to empty and find a gas station', to a 'start the day charged and then top-up where you park'. Having what we call 'fast AC' chargers located in many locations, enable EV drivers to park up, plug in and then just leave their car for 1hr+. This is the model we are focused on which enables parking operators the choice of charging an additional low-rate for the EV park, or to use the EV charger to attract clients and increase their carpark utilisation (at least in the short term). We're not actively selling fast charging DC chargers, because these require EV drivers to either stay with their car, or have to keep checking in. A couple of our larger clients also own multi-family units (large apartment complexes) and they want EV chargers as an additional offering (so this is home-charging). Again these are overnight AC chargers that can fill a battery up at around 50km/hr. What we are focused on enabling is a 'charge where you park' model, not a dedicated charging station (like a gas station) model. Anywhere you park your vehicle and pause (shops, restaurants, movies etc), these business also want you to pause longer. A Wall Street Journal article highlighted that the longer you spend in a shop, the more you spend - up to 40% more. These business want to encourage you to stay longer and slower EV charging is aligned with this. There are also a large number of home-owners and/or renters that won't (or can't) want to spend the money to put in faster charging at home.

    In terms of customers, our core focus is parking operators and in the US this covers both traditional car parking complexes (like Wilsons in NZ), as well as multi-family dwellings, workplace charging, ski resorts, accommodation chains, and restaurant chains. We are focused on 'selling in bulk' i.e. our sales team don't target one small hotel, we focus on solutions for large chain businesses.

    In regards to the old petrol station, a view that I shared with a director of an oil company was that those expensive stations in wealthy suburbs are at risk of becoming become redundant in 10 years. People will mostly charge at home, and then top-up where they park and it's convenient.

    The other part of the market our solution and business model supports is taxis and Uber. By providing EV chargers in prime parking building spaces, these drives can conveniently and cost-effectively top-up between jobs.

    Answered on 24-02-2021 by Nigel Broomhall

    Pledgers 245

    Stacey
    22/02/2021 at 7:15pm
    Violet Gaynor van der Merwe
    22/02/2021 at 7:13pm
    Jane Bell - PledgeMe Delivery Facilitator
    22/02/2021 at 7:09pm
    Simon Bann
    22/02/2021 at 7:07pm
    Cameron Power
    22/02/2021 at 7:05pm

    Invisible Urban Charging

     

     

    fromthefounders

    We founded Invisible Urban with the goal of accelerating the shift to electrification of transport through two major objectives:

    1. Make EV charging easy for parking operators and increase the amount of EV chargers available

    2. Make EV charging blend into the urban environment, not become an eyesore

    We are from very different worlds. Jake trained as a lawyer, then went on to lead Parking Sense Global to the leader in parking technology as Global CEO. Nigel's career has spanned finance, IT with IBM and energy, with EV charging in the last few years. Over lunch at Swashbucklers in Auckland just after Jake had returned to NZ, we discussed starting an EV charging business together focussing on the US market first. We agreed, shook hands and we were off. 50:50. Our main rule: life's too short to work with dickheads.

    Between that date and despite the world tilting with COVID, we began work on building our capabilities, lining up a team of A players, signing some master agreements and designing our hero product. Here’s what we achieved before we all got locked down:

    — Eileen Murray of Bridgewater Associates signed on as our strategic mentor

    — We lined up a team of 14A players to get us off the ground and flying

    — We completed 3 trips to the US and signed an exclusive EV Charging master parking agreement for 122,290 carparks for 10 years (15 large customers). During our time in New York we started conversations with a number of VCs.

    — We designed our hero product and lined up our hardware and firmware development team

    — We scoped our software platform requirements and started working with a leading NZ company on design.

    Our first capital raise was going to be through US based VCs - that just made sense for our strategy. The combination of Covid and a large number of friends and family wanting to invest has changed our approach. Our first round is now going to be completed in NZ and future rounds will likely be raised in the US.

    The EV charging infrastructure industry has a forecast CAGR of 41.8% over the next 10 years. As an example there are now more charging stations (not outlets) in the UK than gas stations. And they don’t have enough.

    And while the US may be behind by some margin (less than 0.5% of all vehicles are electric), this will change as more models come to market. There is a reason Tesla is now the worlds most valuable car company and it’s not just Elon's personality.

    We built a customer base of 15 large customers, enabling exclusive rights to the installation and supply of Invisible Urban charging infrastructure to 122,290 car parks with a contract value of $56.2mUSD. We come from hard-working, do-what-it-takes stock and we are going to create massive value for our team.  Get in early and be a part of this exciting opportunity. 

    Nigel Broomhall (CEO) & Jake Bezzant (Chair)
    Co-Founders

     

     

     

    Electric vehicles are actually nothing new. The first cars on the roads in the late 18th and early 19th century were all electric. And they were loved, particularly by women. No fumes, no need to crank anything to get it moving, clean, quiet, smooth. Henry Fords wife Clara actually refused to drive a petrol car, prefering a vehicle that was 'more reliable'. There were thousands of EVs in New York from 1905 to 1915. And there were charging stations all over town so you could charge while you shop. And then oil subsidies and the electric starter motor killed the EV. Dial forward to 2021 and we're back to the EV again. Smooth, quiet, reliable, and with excellent range, EVs are taking over the world. 

    Charging infrastructure, while a necessary part of the puzzle in shifting the world to electric, is often an after thought. The car is the s3xy (Tesla geeks will get that one) part. The way it is fueled is something buyers often worry about later. Having worked in the electricity industry, and being involved with EVs since 2009 we are intimately aware of the challenges associated with charging EVs. The good news is that like batteries, EV charging infrastructure has evolved and most use-cases can be solved with smart people and smart hardware.

    The wolrd is on the knifes edge of a tipping point. The magic acceleration point in most technologies is 5%. Once you hit 5% adoption you start accelerating up the S curve in a logarithmic fashion. In 2020 the global plug in EV sales hit 4.8% of total car sales (source: Bloomberg Green). Many commentators have now openly stated we are 'past the point of no return'. Now global uptake accelerates.

    The team at Invisible Urban are ideally placed to ride this wave with the experience and the global network to make something massive.

     

     

     

    sizeofthemarket


    The US, like Australia, currently lags the rest of the world in EV take-up. But when they catch up the infrastructure investment is mind-boggling. The Parking Operator group globally is a very small and close-knit group of individuals and these people value loyalty and personal relationships first and know with the right team they can create value.  We are connected directly into this group. Our first Master Contract is to provide EV chargers exclusively for the next 10 years to 122,290 carparks across 15 customers.

     


    The EU in totality is a similar size to the US market, but much more fragmented increasing complexity. The Directors currently work with 3 major European EV charger manufacturers so we have direct experience with this market simplifying market entry. We will look to Europe once we have established a strong presence in the US which is likely to be 2023 onwards.

     

    smartinfastructure

    The heart of our strategy is deploying smart infrastrcuture into the field which is connected 24/7/365 to a central software platform. While the parking building chargers are more traditional and will be provided by our current suppliers, the external EV chargers will blend seamlessly into the urban environment, reducing visual pollution while still encouraging EV uptake. This positions IU well with urban planners across the top 10 Smart Cities of the US (NY, Cedar Rapids, Austin, Columbus, LaGrange, Fresno, Louisville, San Francisco, Pittsburg, Boulder) and is a real differentiator.

     

     

     


    In our initial phase we will be installing chargers into parking buildings using existing partners and standard communication protocols. Our hero product however will be designed and tested in NZ and then assembled/manufactured in the USA/Europe once we have our commercial product. This will showcase NZs capabilities as mechanical and electrical engineers and we are committed to continual innovation with the IP developed in NZ and manufactured close to the market. This also reduces our carbon footprint and ensures materials are transported in an efficient manner reducing logistic costs and complexity.

    We exist to accelerate the transition to electric transport by providing simple, beautiful and safe EV charging infrastructure.

     

     

     

    About our Team

     

    Nigel Broomhall, Co-Founder & Global CEO

    Nigel Broomhall is the global CEO, and has an extensive international career spanning finance, energy and IT. His broad experience spanning 26 years includes running NZ based EV charging businesses, building a global consulting business, and operating in public and state owned enterprises. He combines both a strategic persepctive and an entreprenuers heart and believes strongly in the value of sales to business success. Accelerating the worlds transition to electric transport is the mission that drives him and the scratch he wants to leave. 

     

    Jake Bezzant, Co-Founder and Chair

    Jake is a lawyer by training and previously grew and ran the largest guided parking company in the world. He is driven by a desire to transform the New Zealand economy by embracing new technology. Jake has an extensive network throughout the US and Europe and knows how to set up and run businesses in the US.

     

    Jane Rowse, Global COO

    Jane our COO is a global programme manager by training and has been running the digital programme globally for McDonalds. She thrives on massivley complex programmes of work and has the tenacity and drive to deliver programmes of work to successful completion.

     

    Todd Cantley, UX designer & Digital Guru

    Todd is our digital go-to and he cut his teeth at Google, various startups in Europe and Bain & Co. Todd is driven by the detail, he works through the intricacies of how people use technology and loves continually improving the customer experience at every touchpoint.

     

    David Broadhurst, Head of Hardware

    David is a hardware guru and has been working on hardware design and firmware in NZ for the past 10 years. He has designed hardware and firmware systems for helicopter mounted camera gimbals as well as retractable bollards. David is committed to product quality and designing products to last in a variety of environments and applications.

     

     

    What we've done so far

    what-weve-done-so-far

    After founding the company in late 2019, we ran 3 trips into the US in the first quarter of 2020 where we signed up 51,000 carparks for the next 10 years to exclusively provide them EV charging infrastructure as-a-service. Then during COVID lockdowns we grew this to 122,290. We've also recently been approached by a major US metropolitain to provide them with 450 public EV chargers. The world is making a massive shift to electric transport and we have the skills to take advantage.

     

     

    What's next?

    whats-next?

    IU Charging is seeking to raise $2 million of investment capital in support of our business strategy.

    Current shares on issue

    There are 2,000,000 shares on offer through our crowdfunding investor and raise which will bring the company to a total of 10,000,000 shares.

    There are two types of shares on offer: Class B Investor shares and Class A Ordinary shares (read the IM to see the full detail). Class A Ordinary shares shall have the same rights attaching to them as the existing shareholders in the company including the right to vote at shareholders meetings.

    Class B Investor Shares shall carry non-voting rights at a shareholders meeting.

    The next steps for us are big ones because we don't think or act small. From our capital raise we will be:

    - signing up our US based CEO who has been directly involved in the US Smart Cities work

    - finalising and testing our protoype retractable charger in the field in NZ

    - installing our first projects in the US (using traditional EV chargers in buildings)

    - selling our products and services to more businesses. Sales is the life blood of business and we will drive this hard.

    Our ultimate aim is to grow this company over the next 10 years into a global top 10 player and list it providing those who backed us early with a great return.

     

     

    Risks and Challenges

    COVID has locked up the world

    Getting in and out of NZ is a real challenge. While we can get out of the country, getting back in is challenging with the MIQ backlog. We're mitigating this risk by employing a contact we trust to drive the business in the US, and leveraging our relationship with our strategic mentor Eileen Murray. Our US CEO has direct experience working with the top 10 smart cities in a previous role at Google. The founders are also prepared to get on a plane and head to the US to get things moving, while balancing personal risk.

     

    We are working directly with major US banks to underwrite our projects, and applying for Federal and State incentive programmes to reduce installation costs. There is a massive appetite globally to shift investments away from fossil fuels and into renewable focused technologies such as EV charging infrastructure.

     


    Existing competitors are a risk however we have taken a very focused approach and our business model hands most of the utilisation revenue back to the parking operator. We also focus on starting small, proving our solution and then growing. The overall market required to meet demand is going to grow exponentially requiring all players to get infrastrcuture in the ground quickly so our key challenge is to get successful projects in the ground and build rapidly.

     


    Technology is another risk and we mitigate this by signing up the site and then deploying technology over the next decade, changing the technology as it matures. While we are starting with a traditional charging cable technology we also have evaluated inductive charging (currently too expensive and inefficient), and various alternative communication protocols in the charging hardware.

     


    If we can't hit our funding target in NZ we will capital raise in the US through our existing contacts.

     

    A note from PledgeMe

    We have completed Veda checks on the company, Invisible Urban (IU) Charging Limited, and their Directors, as well as Google checks. An article was found related to Jake Bezzant's political career, and he refute the claims presented in that article as without any evidence. There were no other adverse findings. 

     

     

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    Less than 24 hours....

    21/03/2021 at 6:44 PM

    Less than 24 hours to go.....

    Going, Going, Gone!

    As this round of funding closes out, we thought it only fitting to thank some of the stand outs on our PledgeMe campaign to date:

    - to all our family and close friends. You have been the foundation of the investors in this round and we love you all. So far we have parents, brothers, cousins (quite a few cousins - cheers guys!), aunties and uncles and a whole lot of mates. You jumped in early and showed huge faith. Thank you.

    - to the $100k & $250k single investors we salute you. Thanks for jumping in our our journey and showing the faith, you rocked us past the minimum.

    - to the $1m dollar man (yes it was a man!). Tim, you'll always have that badge of honor my friend.

    - to old work colleagues. There's quite a few energy leaders in this bunch which we were blown away by - cheers

    - to the small army of real estate titans -  you guys jumped in and then went a second (and some a third) time! Cheers.

    The SET100 awards was another small highlight that happened during this fundraising journey. Ironically the first group to reach out was from Sweden, the second from Spain. We've got some real interest from a major car OEM which makes me think we could interest some others. A product on our roadmap in particular (autonomous vehicle charging) has really sparked some interest. We're going to take that interest and leverage it up.

    With less than 24 hours to go, feel free to fire up friends and family who have been sitting on the fence. I have been asked if we will do another round here in NZ and while funding (in the US) is definitely a major milestone in 12-18 months, now we have to focus on delivering projects and signing new customers. Raising funds is a necessary part of business, but while it is like the electrons you use to fill your EV, you don't want to just be doing a tour of EV charging stations. We're going to get on with taking the business to the next level now.

    Once we've kicked a few more goals, then we are going to need a whole lot of capital and we just don't see this being realistically rasied in NZ. As highlighted previously, there will not be another opportunity to invest in IU when this round closes until a possible listing. 

    Global Awards, 5 days to go, US mentor team and more!

    17/03/2021 at 12:56 PM

    Five days to go ! - Cool Ski Jobs

    It's been a crazy week for the team at Invisible Urban (IU) so this update will have a few twists and turns, so strap yourselves in!

    Following on from IU getting into the final 100 (and the top 17 in our category) at the Start Up Energy Transition awards, we were immediately approached by two innovation incubators to work with them. One includes a global car manufacturer and a telecommunications giant so we were pretty stoked to be approached. The other is a global network of venture capitalists with a focus on eMobility. We meet with both of them on Thursday night to talk next steps!!

    Join the Council at Berlin Energy Week! | World Energy Council

    In our discussions with Eileen, she is working with her network to broaden our strategic advisory board and the leader she has connected us with out of the gate is an amazing woman, also based in New York. We're working hard to get her on board because she is an incredibly talented leader and will bring enormous value to our team. Sorry I can't tell you more - we should be able to provide more details before the investment round closes, but everyone on board will find out when we sign her up.

    And another suitably vague update....we have another amazing woman lined up for our team who will be stateside in October. She's currently heavily involved in a certain boat race, so (fingers crossed!) she may have some time coming available by the end of today! I have worked with her in the past and she is just an amazing powerhouse who also loves the mission we are on.

    5 days to go!!! OK so with only 5 days to go I'd just like to thank those who have jumped onto our journey, and remind anyone still on the fence of our high level plan for next steps:

    - initial projects. We're going to pick a couple of key sites and get hardware in the ground. These will be used to promote the company in the next capital raise

    - software and hardware. Finishing our prototype and the software platform and protecting IP.

    - major city signing. We intend to sign at least one major metro (we have started discussions with 2 already) and then move to the next capital raise at a much higher US based valuation. These clients demonstrate more forward revenue, and will get us huge attention and add a lot of value to our company.

    We won't be raising again in NZ - this round was focused on family and friends and we are stoked with everyone who has signed up. So why wouldn't we raise again in NZ?

    1. The capital market in NZ is very thin and NZ venture capitalists (VCs) prefer to take controlling positions in investments and then either push the founding team aside or kick them out (from personal experience). We think this is stupid because no-one is more passionate and driven than founders. We also know that you have invested in us as much as our business and we don't want to let you down.

    2. The clean-tech/ESG market in the US is 'white hot' (to quote an NZTE contact of mine) and while they won't invest on a cloud funding platform (their words), when we raise in the US its game on.

    3. Investors in NZ invest in thousands, US investors invest in millions. In the words of a couple of VCs we talked to "we don't look at anything below $20m. It's as much effort to invest $20m as it is to invest $1m so why bother". Yep, its a bit different.

    4. The US is forecast to be back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year. While the NZ economy is potentially looking weak and by some accounts getting weaker, the US economy is going gangbusters and is built on hope and aspirations (oh and lots of debt!). This is a wave we are going to ride. Check out the details on US economic forecasts HERE

    When we raise in the US this will potentially present an event where initial investors can cash out some or all of their investment. While we make no promises, we'll let you know when this is happening.

    We are into the finals of a global award!

    11/03/2021 at 4:57 PM

    #SET100 Certified! We are excited to announce we have been selected as one of the top 100 energy and mobility start-ups of 2021 by Start Up Energy Transition (SET)!

    Invisible Urban Charging is the only New Zealand company listed in the finals for the global Start Up Energy Transition awards in 2021!! These awards are held annually by the German Energy Council and the World Energy Council.

    The SET100 is an annual compilation of the 100 best start-ups of the SET Award. 543 start-ups from 89 countries applied for the SET Award 2021 and we are proud to be among the top 100. We will be presenting live next Tuesday at 4am NZ time.

     

    Check out the full list here: https://bit.ly/3eElznZ

     

    There are 17 companies in our category, and the finalists through to the next stage have the chance to win:

    - 10,000 EURO

    - our company profiled across the World Energy Council

    - access to exclusive events workdwide

    - investor matchmaking

    - return flights for two to Berlin

     

    Just by getting in the top 100 we are featured in a global publication, circulated to investors, corporates and political stakeholders across the globe.

     

    Just another reasons to join us on our EV journey! Jump in today:)

    As we close in on $1m, we thank you.

    08/03/2021 at 10:14 PM

    As we get close to $1m, we'd like to take the chance to thank all those who have jumped on our EV journey. Going through the list it just blows us away that we've had so many family (brothers, cousins), friends, colleagues from our past and present, members of the PledgeMe team, and investors who are just passionate about clean technology. The faith you have shown in us is appreciated and we will be doing everything we can to 'make it grow' (cheers to my brother for that line!).

    As we mentioned in our video, we had a number of family and friends who knew what we were doing, and approached us about potentially investing. But while you go into something like this with high hopes, we were realistic - our company isn't as sexy as some of the other companies raising on PledgeMe.

    For all those still sitting on the fence, here's the summary of our business:

    - we offer a solution to 3 problems facing parking operators: compliance with new laws, increasing the number of people using their parking buildings/sites, and increasing revenue

    - we make EV charging simple. We provide the hardware, installation, monitoring, management and monetisation for a monthly base fee and a transaction fee

    - we grow with a parking operators needs. We have an exclusive master agreement for 5+5 years for 122,290 car parks and we increase EV chargers as customer demand grows (which we measure)

    - we have existing supplier agreements for US-compliant EV chargers and we're designing our own cutting-edge charger for cities which doesn't clutter up the streets

    With 2 weeks to go we're on the cusp of $1m. With your help we can get to $2m. Onwards and upwards!

    Our Aspirations - We're "Shooting for the Stars"

    07/03/2021 at 3:41 PM

    Peter Becks Rocket Lab is currently listing on the NASDAQ using a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). This listing process will value the company at well over $4bn USD, a simply stunning milestone. But it isn't the financial achievement of this NZ grown team that really stood out for me, it was Peter's comment around ambition. He highlighted that the same type of entreprenuer he is networking with in the US is aiming to build $1bn companies versus Kiwi entreprenuers only aiming for $100m (8 minutes in on the RNZ interview in the Stuff article below). 

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/300243610/is-rocket-lab-our-sputnik-moment

    Building a company is incredibly hard, and Peters point is that you might as well aim as high as you can because it takes the same amount of effort. Well not exactly. You see creating a $1bn company in NZ is incredibly hard. But creating companies of this scale in much larger markets, while still incredibly hard, has a much higher change of success. I had the chance to join a dinner Peter was at last year, and he struck me as incredibly smart and incredibly focused, and someone to learn from so when he said this, I listened.

    When you think of NZ unicorns (private startups that have grown to be worth more than $1bn - globally there are 536 of them, 274 in the US), you can't go past Allbirds, and now of course Rocket Lab. Allbirds raised their first seed fund of $119,000 in 5 days on Kickstarter, and then went on to raise another $7.25m(USD) from investors in their first year of business. Allbirds completed a further $50m and it is valued at more that $1.7bnUSD today.

    What did these amazing Kiwi-launched companies have in common? The ambition of the founder. I'm a huge fan of Darren Hardys' works, and I've listened to my audible version of The Entreprenuer Roller Coaster at least 15 times while driving. Darren was the former publisher of Success magazine, and it was one interview in particular that stood out for me. Darren interviewed a leader in the US who ran a real estate development that completes 200 homes a day. 16,000 employees, $1bn/year in revenue. When asked what the growth constraints were, the founder said 'his ambition'. "The only constraint of a companys growth and potential is the owners ambition. I am the constraint. The market, the opportunity, everything is there. It's up to me to set the pace, clear the obstacles, get the resources, and create the conversations to grow the company faster."

    So when Peter told Kiwi's to 'shoot for the stars', this principle stood out for me. The transport electrification market is there and the growth will be massive. The US has 276m vehicles and only just over 1m are electric, a great place to start. And as for market cap, well, lets just say our ambitions are also massive.

    What that means for everyone who has, and will, jump onto our transport electrification journey before this round closes, is that you will hear us talk about being 100% focused on growth. Growth is funded by sales, so for those big strategic sales you'll find us at the front of these deals, and we'll make sure you hear about the wins. 

    To launch as hard and fast as possible we want to get as close to our maximum raise of $2m as we can. So let your friends, family and networks know that you've joined the IU journey and its going to be all about growth, and maybe they should have a look too.

    A California city has just voted to ban new gas stations...

    04/03/2021 at 6:18 PM

    In case you thought the US was all about gas-guzzling V8s and weren't getting serious about transport electrification! Petaluma, California, just finalised an amendment to ban the construction of new gas stations on Monday this week. They have also moved to streamline the process for building new EV stations (yes we are reaching out to them as I write this...). And they aim to be carbon nuetral by 2030.

     

    Petaluma, a beautiful historic town in California.

    There are 16 gas stations in the town today and while they won't be forced to close, they won't be allowed to add any more pumps. They will however be encouraged (and allowed) to add EV charging stations. The wave is forming and we're ready (with your help) to ride it!

    Heres the article from Business Insider HERE

    2 days private, 7 days public and we're at the minimum!

    04/03/2021 at 11:30 AM

    Wow. Here at IU we're passionate about accelerating the transition to electric transport and generating a fantastic return for our family of investors, but we're blown away at the support you've shown us. Thank you. We have blazed through our minimum and we still have 18 days to hit our maximum of $2m.

    We also got some news which we can make public yet (we can next week). IU Charging has been shortlisted for a global energy award for early stage companies. Once the embargoe on the details is lifted, you our IU family, will be the first to know all about it:)

    So where to from here? Well we believe that there are a few large investors who have been watching this campaign to see how it goes, and now we've hit the minimum they will jump in and grab the opportunity before we hit our cap. As we've said a few times, we won't raise again in NZ, the next funding round will be in the US, and we've already had some wholesale investors reach out to start a conversation. Raising money in the US is a little different to NZ. A large portion of investors won't entertain anything below $20m (in fact most won't go below $50m). So our focus will be to get projects in the ground and sign up some really large strategic customers (we have started this process already) and leverage this to increase the overall company valuation.

    While the current master contract opportunity is significant, we want to go global. As founder of Seaworks Bill Day said at a corporate training day I attended once, "Bite off more than you can chew, and then chew like f&^k". In tech you have to move fast, both in sales and product development. And you have to go large. We intend to.

    Volvos going all in on electric by 2030

    03/03/2021 at 9:50 AM

    There's a couple of biggies in this recent announcement from Volvo that will really shake up the car world.

    (https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/evs/300243172/goodbye-gas-volvo-to-make-only-electric-vehicles-by-2030)

    Volvo goes electric

    Of course the headline is the easy one - Volvo will be all electric in its entire fleet by 2030. And this excludes hybrids - they are going all-in on EVs. Whoop whoop!!

    The much larger impact for the traditional car world is the fact that you will only be able to buy them online, just like Tesla. One of the biggest barriers to rapid EV uptake you see is the current structure of the dealership network. Now the dealership model has done a stunning job for car manufacturers since the first dealership opened in 1898. Anybody in business knows that distribution is a major key to success (in our case we are working directly with parking operators at scale), having the ability to move large volumes of vehicles from manufacturing to key markets is a massive advantage. The challenge with the model is the margins on new vehicles are thin, and maintenance is a big part of the ongoing revenue stream. Electric vehicles however need ~80% less maintenance than a combustion engine vehicle. And the really high-end luxury versions, which need (you guessed it) more maintenance than standard vehicles and had great maintenance margins, will be replaced with high performance EVs that just don't need the same level of maintenance. Ouch. This is changing the way car manufacturers look at their distribution models and could be a huge challenge for the industry.

    Of course the good news is that all of these EVs will need to be charged somewhere:) As well as the more traditional ways of charging, our clever engineers are also pressing me to design a completely new way to charge. I love Kiwi ingenuity so while we deliver our new charger to the market, we'll also keep working up this new concept. Because, just like the disruption coming down the pipe for the dealership model, it could be a game changer.

    54% of the minimum....

    03/03/2021 at 9:09 AM

    Thanks to everyone who has pledged to date - we've gone through 50% of the minimum raise and we're rising!!

    Our mission is to accelerate the transition to electric transport, with our focus market being the US because, well, its big and we can have more impact. And we're all about impact. But if we're going to do our bit and create the result below, we need to hit our minimum and get close to our max. So we need your help.

    Aside from the amount you're already earmarked for investment (thanks!), here's what else you can do to help raise awareness:

    - let family and friends know via the socials and at real social events:)

    - send them the link to this page (make sure they are aware of the risks)

    - share this link to pages you follow or are a member of that you think would be interested

    Any efforts would be really appreciated. Of course please stay safe in these crazy times!

    Reducing the risk of transmission

    01/03/2021 at 11:59 AM

    Here we go again New Zealand, another lockdown.

    COVID

    Now what may not have come through very clearly in our IM is that our EV charging solutions have been designed to minimise bacteria/virus transmission. This is because our retractable bollard for example, requires the EV driver to bring their own cable (BYOC), and you don't have to touch the charger to plug your cable in. You can lift the flap on the front of the socket with the end of your cable and then slide it in.

    Research has indicated that viruses and bacteria can survive on plastic and steel surfaces like, for example, petrol pumps and attached EV charging cables.

    https://electrek.co/2020/03/18/drivers-fear-coronavirus-risk-from-gas-pumps-the-filthiest-common-surface-in-america/

    Our solution minimises this risk by design. In some situations and states we will need to install what we call tethered chargers (chargers with cables attached) but we firmly believe that socketed chargers are the way forward, for a bunch of reasons:

    - cable ends don't get broken by being continuously dropped

    - people look after and respect their own hardware versus public hardware

    - its a safer way to charge

    Another reason why the IU Charging solution is a winner!

    Stay safe out there, and if you need to refuel, wash your hands ASAP!

    ....and we're through $200,000....

    25/02/2021 at 9:54 AM

    After just over 2 days we've rushed up to $218,550, which is ~44% of our minimum raise. Thank you to those who have put their faith in us.

    We've had a couple of questions from friends and family, a couple of them we'd like to share with you.

    "Will you remain a NZ company?". Short answer yes. We have proven our country to be highly resiliant in the face of a global pandemic, and we are attracting talent from across the world. We believe this will last beyond the time we manage to open up our borders fully again. We are focused on building the intellectual property here in NZ, and have localised manufacturing/assembly in the countries we operate in (initially the US). Kiwis are smart, flexible in their approach, and work hard to solve problems. This is a fantastic place to grow our technology.

    "Why are you focused on the US and not NZ?". Simple answer - 276m vehicles and we have an established network. Breaking into a massive market like the US cold is extremely difficult. We have some strategic advantages others don't:

    - one of our co-founders led a global parking company and was based in the US

    - we have a strategic advisor in New York who has an extensive network, Eileen Murray

    - we've established a relationship with the VP of the Renewable Energy Group at Goldman Sachs as a result of our relationship with Eileen

    And the US is on the cusp of massive change (see the article below), which we are positioned to take advantage of. 

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biden-send-electric-vehicle-revolution-003000793.html

    While it certainly won't be easy to grow IU Charging in the US, we have the foundation pieces in place for success.

    You need to pledge to see this update.

    Punching through $100k...

    24/02/2021 at 1:46 PM

    To all those who have jumped in early while the page is still set to private, we salute you and we're excited about having you with us on the journey ahead! $100k is a nice milestone to hit, and the fact that you were the first will not be forgotten.

    The PledgeMe page opens up tonight at 6pm to the wider public, so if you've got someone looking (like yourselves) at getting in early, feel free to share the url.

    Here's to transforming your investment into USD returns!

    Thanks to all those who have jumped in early:)

    23/02/2021 at 10:27 AM

    Big thanks to all those who jumped straight in and made a pledge! I'd especially like to single out Jane Bell, who has been our guide and mentor throughout this journey. Your support is really appreciated.

    As a self-confessed EV geek, I follow all the latest news and updates around the world. Relevant to our business ambitions in the US I thought you may find this article interesting:

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmorris/2021/01/30/without-better-charging-infrastructure-the-ev-revolution-is-doomed/?sh=6ccdf42e7e50

    The basic summary is the world will not be able to keep up with infrastructure demands once we all uncover for ourselves the benefits of electric transport (something we have been publicly stating for a couple of years now). Could be a great time to invest in an EV charging infrastructure company;)

      Offer Details

      Current Valuation 8,000,000
      Raise Minimum 500,000
      Raise Maximum 2,000,000
      Share Price 1.00
      Minimum Pledge 1,000.00
      Maximum Shares Offered 2,000,000
      Explanation of valuation:

      We have used the forecast revenue for 2021 at a 5x multiplier then discounted this by 20%

      Financial Summary

      Prev Year Current Year Est. FY 2025 Est. FY 2026
      Revenue NZ $ NZ $0 NZ $2,610,000 NZ $13,201,000
      Operating Expenses NZ $ -NZ $160 NZ $1,836,000 NZ $5,030,000
      EBITDA NZ $ -NZ $160 -NZ $683,000 NZ $1,277,000
      Net Profit NZ $ -NZ $160 -NZ $683,000 NZ $272,000

      Company Details

      Company Name: Invisible Urban Charging

      Company Number: 7761356

      Company Documents

      Documents no longer available to download, as this campaign has closed

      Director Details

      Name Role Profile URL Invested?
      Nigel Broomhall CEO https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelbroomhall/
      Jake Bezzant Chair https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakebezzant/

      Hi Nigel,
      A few questions:
      Do any competitors operate a BYC service?
      Will the POs have cables to hire when needed?
      Has IU approached the NZGIF for investment?
      Thanks,
      Angus

      Posted on 21-03-2021 by Angus Napier

      Hi Angus - some good questions (and one that's a little 'sensitive'). In the BYC cable there are not a lot of players, most have installed tethered machines and these have been installed for a while. I've seen a couple of ChargerPoint and Greenlots installations with BYC machines but not many. The advantage with this is the feedback we have had from cities and developers is they hate them and want an alternative. We will have cables available as part of our offering and we're working on a monthly subscription service for EV drivers which includes a cable as part of the deal.

      PO's will have cables available, but not all are manned. We are looking at potential local distributors for cables which are in close proximity to the parking building, but this tends to be a one and done purchase for ~3 years so the direct website sale with fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) is our preferred option (next day delivery in the US - a little different to NZ!).

      OK so the more 'sensitive' question you've asked is the NZGIF one. I approached them for investment in May 2020 and we were told that although we sit in the sweet spot from a clean tech perspective, and we have customers, unfortunately because those customers are in the US we don't qualify. I must admit I was a little confused over this - we are going to create NZ jobs in clean tech, keep IP here in NZ, and use US income to fund it. At that time they had not made an investment in 2 years. I contrast that with the immediate contact made with us from a Swedish Government funded corporate consortium charged with bringing innovative new companies to Gothenberg when we got into the SET100. My observation is I hear a lot of talk about wanting NZ to do well in the tech space, but the action we all see is more and more tech companies going offshore. The US is number one globally for total R&D spend, and 11th by GDP%. NZ is 45th by total spend and 32nd by GDP%. Sweden is 19th for total spend and 4th by GDP%. Technology, and specifically clean technology is the engine of the fourth industrial revolution. Renewable energy, transport electrification and advanced mobility, grid-scale battery storage - the countries focused on growing companies focused on these critical foundations of our next big revolution will stand out from those that don't in my opinion. And all of these technologies align beautifully with NZ as a country. Instead we seem more than happy to see the future pioneers of these technologies struggle with bootstrapped startups and either fail or head away overseas. Supporting and growing technology companies here, and then ensuring NZ benefits from this investment with commercial arrangements is not something that wouldn't appeal to entrepreneurs. An innovation grant with a commercial contract to improve mobility/energy/etc in a major NZ city on favourable terms once commercialised would be lapped up by entrepreneurs. While I'll admit I had high hopes for the NZGIF, I just don't see that type of innovative thinking coming through. Well certainly not from discussions I've had.

      Answered on 22-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


      Hi Nigel, Jake,
      The constitution has a schedule 5 but no schedules 3 and 4. Do these schedules exist?
      Thanks,
      Angus

      Posted on 20-03-2021 by Angus Napier

      Hi Angus, great spotting! Editing error - schedule 5 should be schedule 3 and be referenced as such. We will amend.

      Answered on 21-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


      That’s a great response Nigel! As usual you’ve answered back with a smart, solid response. I completely agree and am happy as Larry to be in early. I’m very excited, as you must be also, to see what the new additions can do for “Us”!

      Posted on 18-03-2021 by Scott

      Hi Nigel,

      With what I’ve read here and in the offer you anticipate going public in roughly five years time. You mention more rounds of private funding in North America. My question is with the dramatic increase of tech stocks in 2020 and a bit of Cat n Mouse in 2021 why wouldn’t you want to get something solid in the books and then go public riding the tech wave of today supposed to 2025/26?
      I’m in for the long haul as I’ve done this before and done well went companies went public. Just wanting to understand a bit better why wait if we can catch a good wave earlier? Cheers and excited mate!

      Posted on 18-03-2021 by Scott

      Nice one Scott;) You raise an interesting point, and it is something we have discussed internally. SPACs and the whole market has gone nuts for ESG/Clean Tech in the last couple of months and that will run through this year as money flows from old tech (fossil fuels etc) to new/clean tech. We're really focused on building a fast-growth company, but we don't want to give away the baby with the bath water i.e. go now when we haven't signed more customers and we're still a bit unknown so our value is low. Advice we've received is to focus on signing up more customers, specifically some high-profile major metros and then for the next round (whatever that may look like) we can value up significantly in US dollars.

      This means those that get in now could (no promises) get a 'liquidity event' if they want to get out at a reasonable multiplier. Although as I said to my two brothers who have tipped in, if I come to you and offer to buy your shares in the next round, say no. But each investor, if presented with that opportunity, will need to make their own call, my family included.

      It's a crazy market compared to NZ, so we're taking a lot of advice from our mentor Eileen Murray. When we sign up some major new clients her team are going to lead our PR programme which will raise profile and value. Personally I would love to ride the wave to unicorn, but that's what all entrepreneurs say;) We are focused on building a great team, with great products and generating a great return for our shareholders.

      Answered on 18-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


      Hi, where will the product be made?

      Posted on 17-03-2021 by fiona heares

      Great question Fiona! Here's our plan:

      - all design work is done in New Zealand
      - the first bollards will be manufactured in NZ also (Auckland)
      - shift manufacturing of 'heavy' components (steel) and all final assembly offshore to the markets we sell into (initially the US) to reduce carbon emissions and costs. To take advantage of local incentives this will be required.
      - keep design, and manufacturing of sensitive components in NZ

      As an Apple fan boy I like the 'designed in California' aspect of the machines which makes them cool. We will build on the fact that NZ is cool and that having products designed here is a great thing.

      For the parking building chargers we are using existing manufacturers that we have experience dealing with, who have UL compliant hardware. We will review this as we scale.

      Answered on 18-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


      Hi. You mentioned that you have a head start on other players due to your contacts. Are you actively working to develop any intellectual property? How confident are you that you are not infringing any one else's? Will car parks etc buy or lease the chargers? Will they have any incentive to upgrade to newer models? Thanks

      Posted on 12-03-2021 by Quinn Miller

      Hi Quinn - IP is a good question. In regards to the specific design and components of our new EV charger, we have developed IP around this and we are confident we are not infringing on anyone else's. IP protection is a race because eventually companies find ways to copy, so you really have to stay ahead of the game. In regards to the retractable bollard product, because we have a charging-as-a-service model and we own the hardware we won't be selling it to a company to pull apart, analyse and copy. In our product roadmap we have new products planned, as well as designs on how to improve installation processes.

      Parking operators and cities effectively lease the solution from us and we provide the monitoring, management and monetisation services for a flat recurring monthly fee. In this way we can continue to innovate with the market and then upsell customers to new technology as we develop it. One technology we have a watching brief on for example is inductive. It's still expensive and inefficient compared to a copper cable but it is evolving.

      We certainly see the opportunity for smart infrastructure evolving and we want to drive this with our customers. As sensors and and connectivity costs continue to decline in price, owning the master contract with the customer enables us upgrade the hardware based on new components and sell these to the customer. For parking buildings, depending on the use-case there may be little incentive to upgrade, but for cities and major new developments they will want to upgrade bollards with new functionality as it is developed. We are also focused on reducing the costs of manufacturing, while maintaining quality.

      Answered on 14-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


      Hi, how do investors receive a return on investment thanks? I see you've mentioned dividends, and in the company white paper it states "The Board will keep a register of interested
      investors which will be made available to current investors looking to sell their share parcel". But how will an investor know how much their shares are worth, and if selling 'in house' if a legitimate price is applied? How will 'interested investors' find out about you, and then get on your list? And how often will dividends be paid etc?
      I'm keen to invest, but the main hard hitting question from me is how will I know what my share price is (if not on the NZX or ASX), and how do I cash some or all of my investment out should the time arise? Also who will be 'policing' your company to make sure you don't drive off into the sunset in the latest Ferrari purchased with investors money? LOL.

      Posted on 10-03-2021 by Andrew Aitken

      Hi Andrew. I'm not sure you're read our IM - our mission is to accelerate the transition to electric transport so if anything we'd drive off in a Tesla rather than a Ferrari LOL. Luckily I already drive one of those so there's no risk to our investors;) We are also subject to the Companies Act 1993. A good section related to your comment is section 131: Duty of directors to act in good faith and in the best interests of the company. A Ferrari would fail this test.

      In terms of return on investment, it basically works like this:
      - we use the money invested to grow the business
      - we will raise more money in the future (in the US) to grow the business as fast as we can (tech companies are all about growth)
      - anyone registering interest for future raises will be notified, but this will likely be in USD
      - every subsequent raise will be at higher valuations based on hitting growth/sales targets (every raise will be based on a company valuation but we won't be posting this on a regular basis)
      - if there is an opportunity for existing shareholders to release their shares into the new raise we will let you know prior to the raise

      Because we are all about growth (see page 10), dividends will not be paid in the short term, rather any profits will be reinvested into growing the company. Opportunities to cash-out are therefore intentionally limited so you should approach this investment as a 5+yr hold and be aware of the risks outlined at the bottom of this page and in our IM. This is a private company investment, not a listed company investment so you won't get a regular update of your share value.

      If you are looking for an investment that is low risk, provides a daily investment value, has regular dividends and can be cashed out easily, then this is not the right investment for you. If instead you are looking for an investment into a Kiwi company that is focused on growing as big as we can in the US market (then globally), has an existing network giving us a 2-3yr advantage on other foreign companies trying to crack this market, and will review listing in the next 4-5 years, then we could be.

      Answered on 10-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


      Is there any conflict of interest between Chargesmart and IU Charging? It seems as if they focus on totally different areas but just need to ask the question. Thankyou.

      Posted on 07-03-2021 by pamela jenkins

      That is a well researched and excellent question Pamela, as Nigel is currently listed as CEO of both organisations. ChargeSmart is focused solely on the NZ market and covers both EV charging and solar (we recently purchased the solar business from Mercury in Feb), and has no plans to go offshore. IU Charging is focused on global markets and will develop some products which we will sell in NZ through distributors, like ChargeSmart (which makes logical sense), but this is not our focus. The only products we would sell in NZ are to meet the requirements of shareholders as per the Investor Perks, otherwise all energy goes into the US market initially.

      The macro challenge is focus and time. IU Charging will demand a significant amount of time and energy to make it the success we want it to be. This is going to require a new leader for ChargeSmart and this process is currently underway.

      Answered on 08-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


      Do you have any plan to list on NZX or ASX

      Posted on 04-03-2021 by Amit Jain

      Great question Amit. Over a 5 year time frame the business plan has a couple of different scenarios, depending on how we are positioned in the market. We haven't onto locked any one scenario at this stage as it will depend on growth against forecast, markets we are predominately operating in, and scale of the business. Listing is definitely one of the scenarios but in which market has not been decided.

      Answered on 04-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


      Kia ora kōrua! As an EV owner, I am definitely behind this idea. I am curious how diverse your company is in terms of employees, contractors, etc. Of the 14 folks you have lined up to work in the US on this push, how many are people of colour? Women? Are you an equal opportunity employer? Do you have plans for any kind of community/charitable giving programmes as your company grows in future? I'm interested in investing, but place a high value on social progress that goes beyond electrification of the transport fleet, and would like to know where you stand on this. Ngā mihi, J.

      Posted on 04-03-2021 by Jordana

      Awesome question Jordana, and a very hot topic for our strategic advisor, Eileen Murray (google her)! And good on you for leading the charge:)

      In terms of the team, the founding leadership team has two women, and a key person for us is Eileen in the US. We are all about building a team that has shared values and the strengths we need to win, and diversity of thought and backgrounds is critical to achieving this. Kaitiaki is something that resonates, and is a concept I was introduced to by Ngai Tahu. We see urban planners as guardians of urban environments (urban Kaitiaki) and our EV chargers and specifically our retractable bollard is designed to align with this. Our core team will be primarily made up of Kiwis who reflect this perspective and we are open to anyone with the strengths we need.

      In regards to community/charitable programmes as we grow, we are passionate about this and it is something we have hotly debated. Carbon zero is important and we will focus on achieving and retaining this (I led the carboNZero programme for Meridian Energy so have direct experience with this), and we are also looking at offsetting programmes like well-capping in the US and tree planting. I believe the biggest impact we can have is by deploying EV charging infrastructure at scale that breaks down the concept of range anxiety and gets more people into EVs faster. Every internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle replaced by an EV has ~$10,000 in social benefits due to air quality (Ontario Health research 2020), and the most impact is at the vulnerable parts of society so we need to balance where we focus. Access to chargers, particularly in poorer areas is something that has been raised by a US city we are in discussions with, so we will have a solution for this. EVs as you know are ~90% less expensive to maintain and 80% cheaper to fuel - as a catalyst for mobility amongst the poorer parts of society once capital costs come down they have the potential to be a game changer. We see cheap autonomous vehicles (which will be electric) as another massive transformation technology for society, significantly reducing mobility costs, and we have designs in the wings for ways to charge these autonomously. For the first phase of our programme funded by this capital raise, we will be focused on getting some projects off the ground, signing up a major metropolitan city, and then a subsequent capital raise. By the time this raise occurs we will have a clear programme in place, informed by what is relevant in the market we are operating in.

      Answered on 04-03-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


      Hi Guys,
      Are the shares voting or non voting? If non-voting why?

      Posted on 26-02-2021 by Maurice Greenough

      Great question Maurice.

      There are two types of shares on offer: voting (ordinary) and non-voting (investor). The threshold (as outlined in the IM) for ordinary shares with full voting rights is $35,000, with everything below this non-voting, but equal in every other way (dividends, asset distribution, receive notices and the right to attend shareholder meetings). We have structured it this way because of the feedback we received from family and friend investors - below a certain level they were simply looking to get involved but didn't want to get involved with steering the direction of the company given it is technology and focused on offshore markets. Those who indicated a desire to get involved in the direction of the company (voting rights) were generally above this investment threshold.

      At this stage in the companies development it also made things a lot simpler from a governance perspective as well.

      Answered on 28-02-2021 by Nigel Broomhall


      Hi, it looks that EV's can and will run longer without a charge as new models are released. EV's should come with the ability to charge at home over night also. Would you not expect to get a full days use without a charge during the day, at least in the future, similar to how we might use a mobile phone for a days use? I could be incredibly wrong, and happy to be so, but is there a trend you see or do EV's not come with home charge or is it too expensive that way or is there not going to be a home charge option in the future. I'd say the old petrol service station will be hoping for this so Wild Bean can continue selling coffees and pies! Would love to hear your thoughts on the future and the need for a charge in the middle of the day.

      Cheers,

      Andy

      Posted on 24-02-2021 by Andy Connor

      Great question Andy. You are right that EVs are coming out with larger batteries and more range (our two EVs have 380km and 450km ranges today). They really need too, or the technology won't move from early adopters to the mainstream, The good news is they are and quickly - once you have a range of 300-350km+ range anxiety disappears.

      In terms of charging, the major paradigm shift is from a 'drive it to empty and find a gas station', to a 'start the day charged and then top-up where you park'. Having what we call 'fast AC' chargers located in many locations, enable EV drivers to park up, plug in and then just leave their car for 1hr+. This is the model we are focused on which enables parking operators the choice of charging an additional low-rate for the EV park, or to use the EV charger to attract clients and increase their carpark utilisation (at least in the short term). We're not actively selling fast charging DC chargers, because these require EV drivers to either stay with their car, or have to keep checking in. A couple of our larger clients also own multi-family units (large apartment complexes) and they want EV chargers as an additional offering (so this is home-charging). Again these are overnight AC chargers that can fill a battery up at around 50km/hr. What we are focused on enabling is a 'charge where you park' model, not a dedicated charging station (like a gas station) model. Anywhere you park your vehicle and pause (shops, restaurants, movies etc), these business also want you to pause longer. A Wall Street Journal article highlighted that the longer you spend in a shop, the more you spend - up to 40% more. These business want to encourage you to stay longer and slower EV charging is aligned with this. There are also a large number of home-owners and/or renters that won't (or can't) want to spend the money to put in faster charging at home.

      In terms of customers, our core focus is parking operators and in the US this covers both traditional car parking complexes (like Wilsons in NZ), as well as multi-family dwellings, workplace charging, ski resorts, accommodation chains, and restaurant chains. We are focused on 'selling in bulk' i.e. our sales team don't target one small hotel, we focus on solutions for large chain businesses.

      In regards to the old petrol station, a view that I shared with a director of an oil company was that those expensive stations in wealthy suburbs are at risk of becoming become redundant in 10 years. People will mostly charge at home, and then top-up where they park and it's convenient.

      The other part of the market our solution and business model supports is taxis and Uber. By providing EV chargers in prime parking building spaces, these drives can conveniently and cost-effectively top-up between jobs.

      Answered on 24-02-2021 by Nigel Broomhall

      Stacey
      22/02/2021 at 7:15pm
      Violet Gaynor van der Merwe
      22/02/2021 at 7:13pm
      Jane Bell - PledgeMe Delivery Facilitator
      22/02/2021 at 7:09pm
      Simon Bann
      22/02/2021 at 7:07pm
      Cameron Power
      22/02/2021 at 7:05pm
      This campaign was successful and got its funding on 22/03/2021 at 6:00 PM.

      This campaign has closed, but this company may choose to do more equity raises on PledgeMe in the future. If you're interested in investing in Invisible Urban Charging, you can sign up to be notified when a new equity campaign from this company is published.

      Notify Me

      Investor Perks

      Package A

      NZ $1,000.00+

      Investment: $1,000-$4,999 Features: Part ownership in IU Charging and an investor discount of 10% on all EV charging products and services (RRP)

      Package B

      NZ $5,000.00+

      Investment: $5,000-$34,999 Features: Part ownership in IU Charging, an investor discount of 20% on all EV charging products and services (RRP), and a T shirt with IU branding

      Package C

      NZ $35,000.00+

      Investment: $35,000+ Features: Part ownership in IU Charging, an investor discount of 25% on all EV charging products and services (RRP), a polo shirt with IU branding, and your name laser etched on first retractable bollard

      Warning statement about equity crowdfunding

      Equity crowdfunding is risky.

      Issuers using this facility include new or rapidly growing ventures. Investment in these types of business is very speculative and carries high risks.

      You may lose your entire investment, and must be in a position to bear this risk without undue hardship.

      New Zealand law normally requires people who offer financial products to give information to investors before they invest. This requires those offering financial products to have disclosed information that is important for investors to make an informed decision.

      The usual rules do not apply to offers by issuers using this facility. As a result, you may not be given all the information usually required. You will also have fewer other legal protections for this investment.

      Ask questions, read all information given carefully, and seek independent financial advice before committing yourself.