SparkCharge has a full battery now.
The startup company raised $23 million in Series A funding, co-led by investors Tale Venture Partners and Pendulum.
SparkCharge was founded in Syracuse but came to Buffalo in 2019 after winning the $1 million grand prize in the 43North business competition. SparkCharge’s flagship product is a portable electric vehicle charger called the Roadie, with an app called Currently that allows vehicle owners to have that service delivered to their location.
The Roadie has been sold to customers across the world in the last few years, and the new funding will support the rollout of on-demand charging service to 20 major North American markets.
SparkCharge is now headquartered in Massachusetts and no longer actively involved with 43North, though 43North maintains its equity stake in the company. But the company still has strong Buffalo ties due to its manufacturing facility on Northland Avenue.
The 10-employee production operation – in the same building as the Northland Workforce Training Center and Buffalo Manufacturing Works – is led locally by plant manager Jason Reiter.
“Every product that we’ve sold has been produced in Buffalo,” founder and CEO Joshua Aviv said. “The caliber of people that we hire there is amazing, and that’s why we decided to stay and invest in that facility.”
Aviv said the plan is to grow the Buffalo team and noted there are several local SparkCharge job openings. He said the Northland space can keep up with demand for now, but the company may look to expand manufacturing space in Buffalo in the future.
“The Buffalo facility is going strong and we’re going to keep hiring there,” he said.
