EnergyTech scaleup JET Charge powers towards Unicorn status

Last Updated: Thursday 14 September, 2023

Port Melbourne-based electric vehicle (EV) scaleup JET Charge might be familiar if you’re a Marvel fan.

Their electric vehicle chargers were actually featured in a futuristic car chase scene in Shang Chi, Rise of the Ten Rings, filmed in Docklands in late 2020.

Day to day though they’re taking EV beyond the realm of high tech supervillains as Australia’s largest local electric vehicle infrastructure and technology company.

“When we started, the goal was to ensure robust and capable charging and operational infrastructure for the growing number of electric vehicles on the road,” says Co-Founder Tim Washington, who founded the company with fellow corporate lawyer Ellen Liang and electrician Jay Robinson in 2013.

“We began by offering a diverse range of charging hardware, software, and related services for electric vehicles.”

“Now, 10 years later, we have grown to be a fully vertically integrated infrastructure and technology provider, employing around 160 people.”

Charging Up

Last year JET Charge closed a $30 million Series B funding round led by RACV and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation Innovation Fund, as well as Kilara Capital and Claremont Capital, with high profile support from Carsales founder Greg Roebuck and Climate Tech investor Simon Monk.

This sees the company hiring the boots on the ground talent and developing the technology to get chargers into fleets and buildings, homes and apartments, shopping centres and car parks, as well as developing tools to help integrate EV charging into the broader electricity grid.

Along the journey, LaunchVic has played a role in nurturing JET Charge’s growth and success. It started at the Victorian Startup Gala in 2022, when JET Charge Chair Monique Conheady heard pitches from 30X30 cohort one companies and encouraged JET Charge to apply for the next intake. 

“It’s been an amazing and horizon broadening program – as we didn’t have a dedicated HR executive I sat in the HR Stream,” says JET Charge Co-Founder Ellen Liang. 

“It has really been a game changer for JET Charge – the quality of mentors as well as the quality of the material was so valuable and immediately applicable to our business.”

Looking ahead, JET Charge wants to continue fostering the mass adoption of EV’s in Australia and New Zealand. As part of this, they want to make sure rural areas are not left behind and are equipped for the journey to a low emissions transport future.

As one of the nine new promising scaleups selected for the second 30X30 program in 2023, LaunchVic also has high hopes that JET Charge will be another impact-driven Unicorn born right here in Victoria.

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