D.C.’s Inspiration Mobility LLC has secured a head-turning $215 million in capital to fund the purchase of electric vehicles, the development of EV charging equipment and other infrastructure it needs to run its newly launched operations.
The funding came from new strategic partners Macquarie Asset Management and global infrastructure company Ferrovial SA, as well as existing lead investor ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC, which had already made a separate $200 million investment in Inspiration in the second quarter of 2021 to start up the company. That initial infusion was announced in November.
The year-old local startup, founded by CEO Josh Green, helps commercial vehicle fleets make the transition to electric vehicles. By buying and leasing EVs to its customers on a pay-as-you-go basis, it said it aims to simplify the process and lessen the up-front investment. It also develops charging stations for the fleet, including buying and leasing the land for the stations, for example, Green said.
All of its work is through its two operating companies, including Inspiration Fleet, which manages electric fleets of cars, SUVs, pickup trucks and delivery vans for clients. Inspiration Energy, its second operating company, develops charging infrastructure for commercial fleets.
Currently, Revel Transit Inc. is the firm’s only publicly disclosed customer. Known in D.C. for its electric mopeds, Revel also operates a Tesla rideshare service in New York that leases its cars from Inspiration. “They have about 200 Teslas in that fleet — all of those are our vehicles that we lease to them,” Green said in an interview.
As Inspiration Mobility continues to acquire new customers both in the U.S. and in Canada, where it hopes to expand, it’s been building out its executive team. Most recently, Gary Gadsden joined as senior vice president and head of fleet sales. Gadsden previously was senior vice president at Toronto’s Element Fleet Management Corp. Inspiration also hired Chris Getner, co-founder and former chief product officer of Arlington data privacy startup WireWheel, as its new chief technology officer.
The majority of this latest funding — which closed at the end of 2021 — is being deployed into assets, Green said. That includes “electric vehicles, electric vehicle-charging infrastructure, clean energy systems to power or optimize that charging infrastructure, and in some cases, real estate,” Green said. “The capital is structured in such a way that we can use it to scale the company and to deploy it into assets, and so we look more like an infrastructure investment firm, if you will, than a tech startup.”
That said, like any startup, Inspiration has a lot of hiring to do. Today, the firm has just over 20 employees, but that will likely triple by the end of the year, Green said, with around half of those hires based at its Farragut Square headquarters. In addition to analysts, sales associates, employees for the fleet operations and customer success departments and more, he’s looking to keep building out the firm’s executive team. That means he’s searching for a CEO of Inspiration Energy, a chief operating officer for Inspiration Mobility, a general or associate general counsel, a chief people officer and a few entrepreneurs-in-residence to develop and launch new businesses.
“Over time, we will both build in new businesses, and we may invest in or acquire new businesses all within that same ecosystem,” Green said, giving a nod to potential acquisitions down the line.
While he declined to share revenue, Green said Inspiration is targeting profitability on an operating basis by the end of the year or in the first quarter of 2023. Meanwhile, the firm has another big task on its to-do list: to find a new office. Its current space is at 1625 Eye St. NW, where it subleases a small wing.
“But we’re rapidly growing out of that space and would like to be in a new space by the fall,” Green said.
The company is looking for about 9,000 square feet, and Green, a D.C. native, said he’s looking to stay within the limits of D.C. proper. “I like to support the hometown,” he said.
