Energy · Profile from Energy Research Companion
ChargePoint
The Campbell, California, company that built North America's largest network of electric-vehicle chargers by count without owning most of them. Founded in 2007 as Coulomb Technologies, ChargePoint sells charging stations to the businesses that host them — employers, retailers, fleets, apartment owners, cities — and charges those hosts a recurring subscription for the cloud software that runs, prices and bills each port; drivers find and pay through its app. It listed through a merger with the SPAC Switchback Energy on 1 Mar 2021, briefly valued at more than $10bn (reported, verify peak), and then lost money every year: ~$2.11bn of accumulated deficit by 31 Jan 2026 on fiscal-2026 revenue of ~$411m (company). Utilisation that depends on how many EVs are on the road, uptime that depends on thousands of hosts' maintenance budgets, and prices set by the hosts rather than by ChargePoint are the three variables of every charging business, and ChargePoint's history shows what happens when the seller of the hardware is blamed for all three. By 2026 it had cut staff repeatedly, done a 1-for-20 reverse split (28 Jul 2025), swapped its convertible notes for a 12% senior loan (Nov 2025), adopted Tesla's NACS connector and partnered with Eaton — and posted its first near-break-even adjusted EBITDA quarter (company, Q2 FY2027).
At a glance
- Founded
- 2007, Campbell, California, as Coulomb Technologies, by Richard Lowenthal, Praveen Mandal, Harjinder Bhade and others (reported, verify list); renamed ChargePoint in 2012 (reported)
- Headquarters
- Campbell, California; European operations in the Netherlands and Germany (reported)
- Ownership / structure
- Public (NYSE: CHPT) since 1 Mar 2021 via merger with Switchback Energy Acquisition Corp.; ~27m shares outstanding at 31 Jul 2026 (company), after the 1-for-20 reverse split of 28 Jul 2025
- Leadership (2026)
- Rick Wilmer (President and CEO since Nov 2023, previously COO); John Saffrett (EVP and MD Europe, 2026) (company)
- Segment
- EV charging: hardware (Level 2 AC and DC fast), cloud software subscriptions, warranties (Assure), roaming
- Scale
- >385,000 "active" ports on its software and roaming access to ~1.37m ports (10-K, FY2026; the company also cites "over 1.5m" ports including roaming); ~1,440 employees (31 Jan 2026)
- Financials (FY to 31 Jan)
- Revenue ~$468m (FY2023, verify), ~$506.6m (FY2024, verify), $417.1m (FY2025), $411.2m (FY2026: networked charging systems $216.5m, −8%; subscriptions $162.4m, +13%); GAAP net loss $457.6m (FY2024), $277.1m (FY2025), $220.2m (FY2026); GAAP gross margin 31% (FY2026) vs 24% (company)
- Q2 FY2027 (to 31 Jul 2026)
- Revenue $116.1m (+18%); GAAP gross margin 36% (incl. ~4 points from tariff refunds); GAAP net loss $35.6m; adjusted EBITDA loss $4.8m; cash $95.7m; debt ~$236.9m; Q3 guidance $105–115m (company, 3 Sep 2026)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding as Coulomb (2007); the site-host and subscription model (2010s); the SPAC listing (2021); European acquisitions (2021); uptime and utilisation problems (2022–24, failure); NACS and the Omni Port (2023); CEO exit, inventory write-down and layoffs (2023–24, failure); reverse split, debt exchange and the Eaton partnership (2025)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2007
Founding as Coulomb Technologies
Founding
2012
Site Host and Subscription Model
Business-model choice (hardware + cloud subscription; host-owned assets)
2021
European Acquisitions
Acquisition
2021
SPAC Listing with Switchback
IPO (de-SPAC merger)
2022
Uptime and Utilisation Problems
Operational failure (reliability and utilisation) and response
2023
CEO Exit Inventory Writedown and Layoffs
Restructuring (failure)
2023
NACS Shift and the Omni Port
Standards / product pivot
2025
Reverse Split Debt Exchange and Eaton
Restructuring (capital structure) / strategic partnership