New York EV Rideshare Startup Revel Seeks to Raise $200 Million

Gillian Tan, Bloomberg News

The Revel charging station on Marcy Avenue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., on Monday, Oct. 24, 2022. Revel's Brooklyn charging station is the realization of both social and environmental goals: bringing jobs and technology to a low-income area with a history of industrial pollution, and chipping away at the number of exhaust-spewing cars rumbling through the neighborhood. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Revel, the Brooklyn-based startup that operates an electric vehicle ridesharing fleet and a network of fast-charging stations, is seeking to raise $200 million in equity, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The company has begun discussing the fundraise with potential investors, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are confidential. Proceeds will be used to expand its public electric vehicle-charging infrastructure in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the people said. The company’s targeted valuation couldn’t immediately be known.

A Revel spokesman declined to comment.

The company already operates fast-charging stations in Brooklyn and Queens and has seen charging sessions jump by roughly ten times to more than 400 a day since October as Uber and Lyft drivers use more electric vehicles because of New York’s Green Rides Initiative, one of the people familiar with the situation said. Revel is planning on developing additional sites, including one in downtown Manhattan, and has leases or letters of intent for more locations both in New York and the Bay Area.

Revel, led by CEO Frank Reig, counts BlackRock Renewable Power, Toyota Ventures , Maniv Mobility, Goodyear Ventures and Shell Ventures among its existing investors.

Read More: New York City to Require More Zero-Emission Cars for Ridesharing

--With assistance from Kiel Porter.