Deftpower builds the technical backbone of smart charging in Europe from Arnhem

When an EV driver plugs their car into a public charging point, they see a simple action. Behind that action lies a chain of systems: a charge point operator, a mobility service provider, an energy market, and increasingly a grid operator requesting load distribution. Deftpower, founded in 2020 in Arnhem, provides the software that connects that chain.

The company does not target end users but rather the service providers that offer charging cards and charging apps, the so-called Mobility Service Providers. Through a white-label SaaS platform, these providers can set up their own charging service in a short time, including access to more than 800,000 charging points across Europe. The company now has more than forty customers in ten countries, and the platform counts over 400,000 registered vehicles. The number of paying drivers grows at an average of 8 percent per month.

In January 2025, Deftpower closed a growth round of €12.5 million, led by Endeit Capital. This brings the total capital raised to €20 million, including a €2.5 million grant from the EU EIC Accelerator programme. The valuation is estimated on Dealroom at between 50 and 100 million dollars.

How the platform works

Deftpower acts as an intermediary layer between the parties that sell electricity to drivers and the parties that manage the charging infrastructure. The platform connects to more than 2,000 charge point operators and more than forty car brands, enabling charging service providers to offer a broad network through a single integration. The core of the technology is smart charge management: the system shifts charging sessions to off-peak hours, when renewable energy is cheaper and more readily available. This reduces costs for drivers and helps grid operators dampen peaks on the network.

This grid-aware charge management is not a side feature. Grid operators in the Netherlands are facing congestion on the low-voltage network in multiple locations, and the growing number of electric vehicles is increasing that pressure. Deftpower is working with Liander on a pilot in Gelderland in which smart charging is being rolled out across 12,000 public charging points. A project with Ubitricity is under way for grid-aware charging at more than 400 Shell Recharge connectors in Utrecht and Almere, and at 1,500 public charging points elsewhere in the Netherlands.

The platform also offers functionality for fleet managers, such as automatic mileage tracking and business reporting. Leasing company Athlon used the platform for smart charging of its fleet, and ANWB uses it to better support EV drivers. In the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany, Deftpower is working with ultra-fast charging network LEAP24 on a charging app and partner card for commercial fleets.

Founders with roots in the early e-mobility sector

CEO Jacob van Zonneveld previously founded Plugsurfing, one of the first European charging card services, and led that company from 2012 to 2019. That experience shapes the approach at Deftpower: the team understands that the real complexity in EV charging lies not at the charging post, but in handling roaming, tariffs and data between dozens of parties.

COO Marc Diks worked at Allego, one of the larger charge point operators in Europe, from 2014 to 2019 as CIO and IT project manager. CTO Remco Tjeerdsma described the company's ambition as simplifying the EV domain for all parties involved and making it possible for any company to set up its own charging card service in a single day. That starting point explains the white-label approach: Deftpower wants to be visible to businesses, not to end users.

The company is headquartered in Arnhem and also has an office in Berlin, reflecting its geographic ambitions. Customers such as Atlante and MAINGAU show that the platform is already being deployed in Southern Europe and the German-speaking market.

Growth and position in the European charging landscape

The figures Deftpower publishes point to rapid scaling. The company reports average revenue growth of 200 percent per year over the past three years. That pace also reflects the broader market: the number of electric vehicles in Europe is rising, and with it the demand for reliable, scalable charging services.

The choice for a platform approach rather than a proprietary consumer brand means that Deftpower grows alongside its customers. Each new partner brings drivers and charging points that are served through the platform. This indirect growth strategy requires broad technical compatibility, which explains the connections with more than forty car brands and thousands of charge point operators.

For the Dutch and European AI and startup scene, Deftpower is an example of a company that combines domain expertise from a specific industry with platform thinking. The EV charging market is fragmented, with many small and medium-sized players each struggling individually to achieve economies of scale. An aggregating layer that serves those parties without displacing them fits a pattern that appears in other sectors as well. The fact that Deftpower is able to attract investors such as Endeit Capital, which has a track record of scaling B2B software, and also secure European subsidies, indicates that the model is regarded as credible beyond the immediate sector.