HeyCharge, a Munich-based EV charging technology company backed by BMW i Ventures, Statkraft Ventures, and Y Combinator, has been awarded a €2.5 million grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator, one of Europe’s most competitive public funding programmes for breakthrough innovation.
The grant will fund HeyCharge’s SecureCharge FLEX project, accelerating the development, certification, and large-scale piloting of the company’s patented EV charging platform across multiple European countries. SecureCharge technology is a key enabler in HeyCharge’s mission: to democratize access to EV charging for everyone in Europe living in apartment buildings. Their patented SecureCharge technology achieves this by eliminating the barriers that have kept conventional chargers out of residential buildings: unreliable connectivity and prohibitive installation costs.
“Nearly half of Europe’s population lives in apartment buildings, and most of them park underground — exactly where internet-dependent chargers fail,” said Chris Cardé, Founder and CEO of HeyCharge. “Our technology works 100% reliably even in underground garages, and because we’ve eliminated the need for communications infrastructure — the cabling, the specialist labour, the ongoing maintenance — we cut installation costs by more than 40%. That’s how you democratise home charging. And this EIC Accelerator grant will help us bring it to millions of Europeans who have been shut out of the home charging revolution.”
Solving Europe’s Hidden Charging Bottleneck
While public EV charging infrastructure has expanded rapidly, home and workplace charging in existing buildings remains a critical gap. Approximately 200 million Europeans live in multi-unit dwellings, and the vast majority park in underground or semi-underground garages — environments with poor or non-existent mobile and Wi-Fi coverage. Conventional EV chargers require constant internet connectivity for authentication and billing, making them unreliable in these settings and expensive to install due to the communications infrastructure they demand: network cabling, routers, specialist IT labour, and ongoing maintenance contracts.
HeyCharge’s SecureCharge platform solves both problems at once. By operating 100% offline — using patented one-time cryptographic tokens generated on the user’s smartphone for secure authentication — HeyCharge delivers two breakthrough advantages: charging that works with complete reliability even in the deepest underground garage, and installation costs reduced by more than 40% because there is no communications infrastructure to purchase, install, or maintain.
Proven Technology, Growing Market Traction
HeyCharge has already deployed its technology across more than 130 sites and 2,500 parking spaces in Germany, with over 123,000 additional spaces addressable through strategic partnerships with leading real estate operators — including Vonovia, Europe’s largest residential real estate company. Demand for HeyCharge’s technology is growing so fast that they are launching a partnership model enabling charging operators and installers across Europe to deliver HeyCharge’s technology. HeyCharge has raised €6.3 million in total private funding to date.
EIC Accelerator: What the Funding Enables
The €2.5 million EIC Accelerator grant will support a 24-month project to advance SecureCharge FLEX from its current technology readiness level (TRL 7) to TRL 8, including:
- Development and validation of advanced energy management features, including dynamic load management, demand response, dynamic tariffs, and bidirectional (V2G) charging capabilities
- Integration and interoperability testing with partner platforms and third-party hardware systems
- Large-scale pilot deployments in multiple European countries to validate performance in diverse building types and grid conditions
- Multi-country certification and regulatory compliance preparation for EU-wide commercial rollout
- Onboarding installers and operators across Europe through a franchise model
“The EIC Accelerator is not just funding — it’s a signal from Europe’s most rigorous innovation programme that our approach to democratising EV charging is ready to scale,” said Dr. Robert Lasowski, Co-founder and CBDO of HeyCharge. “We’ve proven that eliminating communications infrastructure makes charging both more reliable and more affordable. Now we’re taking that from proven deployments to mass-market adoption across the continent.”
About HeyCharge
Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Munich, HeyCharge is democratising access to EV charging for every apartment dweller in Europe. The company’s patented SecureCharge platform eliminates the need for communications infrastructure entirely, delivering two breakthrough advantages: 100% reliable charging even in underground garages, and installation costs reduced by more than 40%. HeyCharge is backed by BMW i Ventures, Statkraft Ventures, Y Combinator, Vireo Ventures, and other leading mobility and climate-tech investors. The company has deployed across 130+ sites in Europe and has a pipeline of 123,000+ parking spaces through partnerships with major real estate operators. For more information, visit heycharge.com.
About the EIC Accelerator
The European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator is the EU’s flagship funding programme for high-impact startups and SMEs developing breakthrough technologies. It provides grants and equity investments to companies with the potential to create new markets and scale rapidly. The EIC Accelerator is part of Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation framework programme.
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