CDP Venture Capital and EIC-Fund have shown their belief in the company’s development project. There is great confidence in Daze’s management and in the electric mobility sector.
Daze’s future is oriented towards new European markets and the development of new products and innovative technological services that will make every home an efficient and sustainable ecosystem.
February 13, 2024 – Daze (https://daze.eu), an Italian startup and currently a producer of electric car charging solutions, announces the completion of a 15 million euro Series A capital increase. This investment will enable the young company to establish itself within a few years as one of the most important European players in the field of electric car charging and energy optimization.
The highly innovative project was born in 2017 from the idea of two engineers, Giacomo Zenoni and Andrea Daminelli, to revolutionize the very concept of electric vehicle charging. It has since grown with an increasing focus on energy optimization.
The operation led by CDP Venture Capital through the EnergyTech compartment of the Corporate Partners I fund and the Green Transition fund, which utilizes resources allocated by the European Union through the NextGeneration EU initiative with the aim of stimulating the growth of an innovation ecosystem in the green transition sector, also involved the EIC Fund managed by the European Innovation Council, the Venture Capital fund managed by SIMEST on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, as well as specialized funds like Founders Future, early stage French VC fund managing more than 200m€ and having invested in more than 90 companies across the continent and Prana Ventures. 035 Investimenti, with a focus on the Bergamo area and having already invested in the previous investment round, also participated.
Future Plans
Looking to the future, with the funds raised, the company is ready to consolidate its presence in Spain and France and expand into new European markets and beyond. Daze aims to complete its range of chargers for private and public use and introduce a series of highly innovative products and services to the market, positioning itself as a global reference player within the next five years. The new technologies will range from automatic charging systems (Comfort Charging) to bidirectional charging (Vehicle to Home and Vehicle to Grid), as well as new services to optimize energy costs directly on utility bills.
“Daze was born out of a necessity: to support the energy transition and the adoption of electric cars with technological and innovative products and services that make every home an efficient and sustainable ecosystem. Therefore, we are very pleased that major investors such as CDP Venture Capital and EIC Fund fully share our vision and project; now we have the resources and the necessary tools to develop technology very quickly, further assert our presence, and aim to expand into other European markets,” declare Giacomo Zenoni and Andrea Daminelli, Co-Founders of Daze. “The strong, cohesive team we have built over the years allows us to be very quick in developing innovative solutions and agilely choosing the direction to take, a fundamental prerequisite in a rapidly changing sector. Daze is not just a manufacturer of charging stations, it stands out from major competitors by offering charging products and services that integrate into people’s daily lives and accompany them on the path of energy and sustainable transition.”
“Our encounter with Daze immediately led to a great synergy: their project to develop new state-of-the-art wallboxes for home charging demonstrates a future-oriented vision, with a strong technological imprint and a focus on sustainability that could redefine the way the general public interacts with electric mobility,” comments Marino Giocondi, Senior Partner and head of the Corporate Partner I fund at CDP Venture Capital. “We are proud to accompany this team on their journey of international development together with our corporate Limited Partners, bringing a positive impact to the electric vehicle market and becoming an integral part of this success story.”
Daze boasts an enviable list of awards and recognitions, starting from the Smart and Start initiative by Invitalia, to the prestigious EIC-Accelerator Pilot call (Horizon 2020 framework), and the most recent design awards that celebrate the perfect union of design and functionality of the devices: first prize at the German Design Award 2024 and first prize in the Archiproducts Design Awards 2023.
To further engage the many supporters that Daze already has to date, the 15 million euro investment round also includes an equity crowdfunding campaign through the Mamacrowd portal for up to 1.5 million euros, which will be launched in February.
Daze Technology
In 2020, when the company had only about fifteen people, the first Daze product, Dazebox, was introduced to the Italian market. This revolutionary electric car charger was designed as a device for the general public, with careful attention to design, aggressive pricing, and tailored to the needs of the home user. Thanks to this project, born from a significant collaboration with the then FCA and Engie EPS, the young Daze team enriched its industrial know-how, which in the following years allowed them to embark on even more ambitious projects.
Dazebox then evolved over the next two years with a series of software updates aimed at improving and evolving the product in response to market demands, such as intelligent balancing of charging power, integration with photovoltaic systems, and the development of the Daze App to enable users to monitor and manage Dazebox remotely.
Finally, in the second half of 2023, drawing from five years of experience in the charging sector, Daze launched the latest generation of home charger: Dazebox Home. This EV charger, with its award-winning design, represents the state-of-the-art in home charging systems.
This path of technological and corporate growth, the numerous partnerships with major industrial players, and the financial resources gathered in the recent capital increase are the foundation of the dense product release plan that awaits the company in the biennium 2024-2025.
Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund Board, said “The EIC Fund has established itself as a strong force in EU deep-tech investments. This unique form of financing via EIC – combining grants and equity – is proving itself highly attractive to Europe’s most promising start-ups. The founders of Daze stood out with their revolutionary ideas, particularly focused on the charging sector. Among these, the innovative solutions for automatic comfort charging, currently under development for new generation electric vehicles, are especially noteworthy.”
About Daze
Daze is an innovative SME that started as a startup in 2016 in Bergamo, born from the idea and passion of its founders Andrea Daminelli and Giacomo Zenoni, mechanical engineers and young entrepreneurs with experience in the industrial and technological sectors. Their goal is to facilitate the world’s transition to electric cars and the use of more sustainable energy in general, by offering their customers accessible and easy-to-use charging products and energy efficiency systems. Daze has a presence in Italy and Europe, with offices in Bergamo, Paris, and Madrid, comprising a total team of 65 people.
Boiler plate (at bottom)
The European Innovation Council Fund from the European Commission is an agnostic Fund: it invests across all technologies and verticals, and all EU countries and countries associated to Horizon Europe. It provides the investment component of the EIC Accelerator blended finance. The European Investment Bank acts as investment adviser to the EIC Fund.
The EIC Fund aims to fill a critical financing gap and its main purpose is to support companies in the development and commercialisation of disruptive technologies, bridging with and crowding in market players, and further sharing risk by building a large network of capital providers and strategic partners suitable for co-investments and follow-on funding.
The Fund pays particular attention to the empowerment and support of female founders as well as the ambition to reduce the innovation divide among EU countries.
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