Spring Free EV Raises $31 Million to Drive Electrification of Commercial Fleets Nationwide; Fin-Tech Financing Platform Aims to Cut the Costs of Going Electric by Half

SAN FRANCISCO, April 6, 2023 (Newswire.com) - Spring Free EV, the financial technology company accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) through innovative fintech products, announced today the completion of a $31 million funding raise that includes a debt facility and a Series A equity investment led by Spring Lane Capital, a $400M private equity firm focused on providing hybrid capital for sustainable solutions in the energy, food, water, waste and transportation industries. The financing will enable Spring Free EV to double the number of EVs it has already put on the road by the end of 2023, with the expectation of scaling to tens of thousands of vehicles on the road by 2025. In addition, at full-scale operation, the company expects to cut the upfront costs of utilizing EVs by more than half the current amount.

While there have been many recent financing announcements by newcomers in the EV space, Spring Free EV already operates nationwide and is the first to tap into the multi-billion-dollar market of over 200,000 small and medium-sized commercial fleets across the country that are looking to electrify their fleets.

Spring Free EV's innovative financing platform helps business owners realize savings by significantly reducing upfront costs and using a first-of-its-kind pay-per-mile subscription model - eliminating the traditional high mileage fee penalties that are cost-prohibitive for commercial fleets that need to drive long distances. The company makes EVs affordable and simple to acquire through its proprietary fintech platform, which includes value-added services such as provisioning tax benefits, telematics and institutional-grade asset management, making EVs a more cost-effective option for fleet owners than owning standard fossil fuel vehicles. With these solutions, Spring Free EV eliminates the biggest barrier to EV adoption — cost.

"Our investment in Spring Free EV provides a highway for institutional investors to connect with the over 200,000 nationwide small and medium-sized commercial fleets, including rental fleets, car-sharing companies, taxi operators, ridesharing and delivery fleets looking to go electric, which is essentially an untapped multi-billion-dollar marketplace," said Rob Day, Partner and Co-Founder of Spring Lane Capital. "Spring Free EV fills a major gap in the electric vehicle industry by developing and implementing financing solutions to make EV ownership possible for the smaller, 'underserved' commercial fleet owners. Their platform also provides the necessary additional value-added services to make cost savings real and achievable, eliminating the barriers for business owners to go electric. We are proud to partner with Sunil and his team of Silicon Valley rock stars."

Spring Free EV was launched in 2021 by an experienced team, including serial entrepreneur and former Sidecar founder and CEO Sunil Paul, Tenni Theurer, Martin Lagod, Visrin Vichit-Vadakan and Andrew Deitz. Collectively, the leadership team has founded eight companies, raised more than $1 billion in funding, managed $2 billion in revenue and has over 40 years of experience in the automotive and solar financing industries. Additionally, they have a track record of hiring exceptional executives and leaders for their previous ventures. Spring Free EV has also secured the support of leading tech pioneer investors, including Bronze VC, Reid Hoffman, Ev Williams and Mark Pincus. Other VCs that participated in the round include Brainstorm Ventures, Pitbull Ventures, Climate Capital, and Gaingels.

"This significant capital raise will help Spring Free EV get closer to our mission of putting tens of thousands of electric vehicles on the road by 2025 by making EV adoption the more cost-effective choice for small and medium commercial fleets across the country," said Sunil Paul. "Spring Lane Capital's participation is a strong accelerant for our strategy and also helps us open our financing marketplace to other investors who seek access to the fast-growing electric vehicle market, thanks to our innovative financing platform. In addition, our strategy also addresses important climate and social outcomes. We are looking to reduce CO2 emissions by one gigaton by 2030 and, by breaking through the affordability challenge that's prevented EV adoption since day one, we are helping to democratize EV ownership for all commercial fleet owners."

Last year, Spring Free EV launched its EVInstaFleet financing solution. EVInstaFleet serves a growing market of entrepreneurs running high-mileage vehicle fleet businesses by streamlining the process of electrifying fleets. Unlike current financing options that can take upwards of six months and are unaffordable for high-mileage commercial fleets, EVInstaFleet uses a pay-per-mile subscription model designed for commercial use, charging customers a base monthly fee plus a fee per mile driven. 

About Spring Lane Capital

Spring Lane Capital is a private equity firm based in Boston, MA, and Montreal, QC, focused on providing hybrid project capital for sustainability solutions in the energy, food, water, waste and transportation industries. The firm's structured financial model seeks to tap into some of the fastest-growing segments of these markets that more traditional forms of project capital cannot access due to their scale and the limitations of existing investment models. Spring Lane's pioneering "Developer U" is a first-of-its-kind effort to build the ecosystem of developers of sustainable infrastructure projects. For more information, please visit springlanecapital.com.

About Spring Free EV

Spring Free EV is a financial technology company built to accelerate the adoption of EVs through innovative fintech products. It has the bold mission to reduce CO2 emissions by one gigaton by 2030 through a new vehicle financing approach that makes EVs more accessible to everyone. Spring Free EV was co-founded by Sunil Paul, Martin Lagod, Tenni Theurer, Visrin Vichit-Vadakan and Andrew Deitz in 2021 and is backed by leading investors, including Spring Lane Capital, Bronze VC, Reid Hoffman, Ev Williams, Mark Pincus and others. Learn more at www.springfreeev.com.

Source: Spring Lane Capital