Charlotte-based startup BatteryXchange is on a mission to serve users beyond a university setting.
BatteryXchange, a portable battery rental company formed in 2019, initially served restaurants and bars before realizing universities were more of a right fit. Now, co-founder Desmond Wiggan said that within the coming months he is looking to expand his product in the Carolinas further within the NFL, professional sporting arenas, travel industry and health-care sector. The local startup eventually aims to reach the entire country.
“Our concept is we want to be able to get everybody accessible, on-demand energy,” Wiggan said. “All different extremities are where we look to add value and convenience.”
BatteryXchange is also inching closer to those goals by broadening its reach to schools such as UNC Charlotte, Johnson C. Smith University and Queens University of Charlotte over the next semester, he said. Last year, the startup landed a deal with Wiggan’s alma mater, Winston-Salem State University. The school installed his company’s tech on its campus and is in the process of installing five more kiosks.
Wiggan said the company recently pivoted to business-to-business partnerships from a business-to-consumer concept. It is seeking to be a resource to other businesses through marketing and curating content, engagement from its kiosk screens, and collecting and sharing data with partners. The startup recently leased its kiosk machine to a B2B partner, he said.
“For us, it's growth,” Wiggan said. “We'll look to raise a series of funds next year, so like over $2 million to kind of further our growth, to be a little bit more strategic on our partnerships. So (we're) working on a logistical partnership now to not have to bring everything in-house, but still get our product around the nation. Then moving into like a SaaS (software as a service) platform and building software where we're able to aggregate the type of individuals that are in it, interacting with our kiosk machines and our web application.”
In 2020, BatteryXchange launched its Hercules Kiosk at Packard Place to allow users to charge their phones on-the-go. The company installed its latest, larger Apollo kiosk at 7th Street Public Market in uptown last year, doubling its portable batteries in the machine to 48. Kiosks are also in several other populated areas around the city.
"We have kiosks in several locations such as Charlotte Convention Center, Charlotte Knights and Atrium Health," Wiggan said. "Currently (we're) working on having another 30 new kiosks placed by the end of the year, including an NFL team, major airline, among other major regional players."
The tech company received a $75,000 growth grant from NC Idea last year, which attracted multiple angel investors as part of its seed round. Wiggan said BatteryXchange won $10,000 in the Black Man Ventures pitch competition this year. Since the company was founded, it has raised more than $450,000 to date from pre-seed/angel and crowdfunding rounds.
The startup added about 200 users of its portable batteries from pop-up events starting in 2019. Since relaunching in 2021, BatteryXchange grew to 13,000 new users.
Wiggan said the tech platform is working on a contract in the Triad area, a growing effort to sell to industries the tech company seeks to focus on.
“We started in the small-business space and only sold to small businesses,” he said. “We’ve evolved into this more B2B, enterprise, Fortune 500 relationship. We're building platforms to add value to that space.”
