Softberry raises 8 billion won in Series A funding

SoftBerry, an eco-friendly mobility charging platform, announced on the 10th that it has raised 8 billion won in a Series A funding round. Five companies participated, including SK Inc. and Hyundai Motor Company’s ZER01NE.

The investment reflects recognition of SoftBerry’s innovation and growth potential as a charging platform company. The company plans to use the funding to expand beyond charging services into B2B businesses, including API services built on years of accumulated charging-station data.

SoftBerry’s flagship service is EV Infra, South Korea’s leading EV charging information app. EV Infra provides real-time information on the locations and status of more than 87,000 charging stations nationwide. Members can also use the EV Infra card to pay easily at chargers operated by Korea Electric Power Corporation, GS Caltex, and Estraffic. The app has been downloaded more than 300,000 times and has 73,000 monthly users.

SoftBerry is working to integrate its system with the Ministry of Environment, South Korea’s largest EV charging operator, with completion targeted for the first half of this year. Once integrated, EV Infra will cover more than 80% of the country’s fast chargers.

Since its founding in 2017, SoftBerry has pursued a range of EV charging partnerships with leading Korean companies. With a large base of EV Infra users and extensive EV user data, it has provided APIs to Kakao and Hyundai Motor Company. It has also partnered with companies including SK Telecom on its carbon mileage program, as well as SK Energy, SK Rent-a-Car, Hyundai Motor Company, GS Caltex, and Lotte Rental.

Most recently, SoftBerry signed an agreement with SK On and launched a pilot EV battery diagnostic service for EV Infra users. It also collaborated with the Korea Power Exchange, including by providing analytical data for the report “Analysis of EV and Charger Deployment and Usage,” published late last year.

SoftBerry is also preparing to expand overseas. It plans to establish an early presence in countries where EV markets have yet to develop, then expand into neighboring major developing markets.

SoftBerry CEO Park Yong-hee said, “With this investment, we will seek synergies with our investors and build a range of B2B businesses using user data, one of SoftBerry’s core strengths. We will also do our utmost to build an EV charging ecosystem with stakeholders across the industry, providing EV users with better information services and making charging as convenient as possible.”

SoftBerry: https://www.soft-berry.com/