The founder of a smart electric vehicle charging start-up is adamant that he won鈥檛 allow Brexit to get in the way of the firm鈥檚 growth plans.
David Simpson is technical director at London-based Andersen EV, which manufactures stylish chargepoints for the home and has just begun selling into Europe.
He founded the company with CEO Jerome Faissat in 2015, a year before the EU referendum. Britain could potentially leave the European Union with no deal at the end of this week.
鈥淏rexit is an unfortunate distraction and I鈥檇 rather stay in, but as an entrepreneur it doesn鈥檛 stand in your way,鈥� Simpson told 老九品茶Cloud. 鈥淧eople who aren鈥檛 in business probably think it鈥檚 more of an issue than it is.
鈥淚鈥檝e sold products all around the world: modern couriers are very efficient at shipping stuff around the globe. The risk for us really is more around currency variation.
鈥淓ven though we manufacture in the UK, our raw materials will go up a lot if the pound becomes weaker, which it has done. But it can work both ways.鈥�
Simpson鈥檚 first business was selling specialist PCs before he started a venture manufacturing media servers for luxury yachts. 鈥淲e won awards and sold to clients all over the world, but that business failed because the technology did too much,鈥� he reflected.
鈥淚鈥檝e learned that if it does too much, there are too many variables so you can’t scale your business model.鈥�
He followed Evolve Media with a more successful electric vehicle charging software business, which he sold to General Motors for half a million pounds, before teaming up with Frenchman Faissat.
Andersen manufactures state-of-the-art charging units which allow the user to control, monitor and manage the process from a mobile or laptop via the free K酶nnect app.
Available on Android and iOS, K酶nnect gives information on charging status, live energy usage, charge cost and time until fully charged. It also allows remote locking and unlocking of the Scandinavian-inspired units, which are available in a range of stylish finishes from 拢850, and can be connected to solar panels and power walls.
鈥淎 chargepoint isn鈥檛 a car accessory 鈥� it’s an architecture accessory,鈥� explained Simpson. 鈥淚t should be very discreet and built to last.
鈥淚t is also potentially one of the most powerful things in your home. As a society we have to be much more 鈥榚nergy smart鈥� and manage the peaks and troughs.
鈥淭hat’s the real power behind smart charging: doing it when it鈥檚 more efficient for yourself and the network as a whole.
鈥淭he future is adaptive charging, when your charge levels are adapted dynamically using certain algorithms and rules.鈥�
The duo took inspiration from Ikea and Mini in creating a highly customisable product where customers buy various components and click them together.
鈥淲ith technology simplicity is really important: this way, you can sell a thousand very easily rather than taking on too much internal expense [for a few bespoke products],鈥� said Simpson.
鈥淲hen we first started, if you wanted Malmo Blue with a Cotswold Oak front, that was a factory order but it isn鈥檛 any more because out warehouse has a thousand cores in stock and a big section of boxes with oak fronts and blue sides and we just ship the parts.
鈥淚t鈥檚 much more scalable for an international market.鈥�
Andersen raised 拢750,000 in a seed funding round on Crowdcube which attracted 901 investors including senior executives in the car industry, and is raising a Series A round this year.
鈥淥ne of our non-exec directors is the ex-chairman of Nissan in Europe,鈥� Simpson revealed. 鈥淲e鈥檝e also been backed by the ex-chief executive of Credit Suisse, who鈥檚 got a Tesla and had a bad experience with his chargepoint. They understand that EV is going to be a big market.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in conversations with a luxury car manufacturer about supplying them with our products.鈥�
With the government promising to scrap the production of petrol and diesel cars in this country by 2040, there will be more than a million electric vehicles in use by 2020.
A total of 100,000 EV charging points will be needed by then, but there are currently only 16,500 public points in the UK 鈥� a great opportunity for Andersen, which Simpson says is plotting national expansion this year. It has sold 475 units to date and has been growing sales 25 per cent month on month.
However it has just started selling into Belgium, France and Norway and considers the European market paramount to its future.
鈥淏y 2021 we are forecasting 21,000 units a year across Europe 鈥� one and a half per cent of the market,鈥� said Simpson.
The company employs 20 people, a mixture of full-time staff and contractors, which it expects to grow to 120 by 2021.