Thessaloniki startup MC Chargers, which develops electric vehicle chargers, has reached an agreement with Greek industrial firm Cosmos Aluminium for the latter to obtain a 51% stake in the former.

The capital boost for the startup from the aluminum company will allow MC Chargers to develop the products it is designing this year, as well as to develop its own production plant at the Sindos Industrial Compound. It will also strengthen its research and development department and its sales team.

The price of the deal, brokered by EY Greece, exceeds 1 million euros and forms part of an investment plan that is set to come to €4-5 million over the next five years.

Within 2022 the Thessaloniki-based startup aspires to install 1,000 domestic and public chargers for electric vehicles in Greece. In spite of the market unrest due to the microchip shortage and price hikes in a series of products, the company is also planning to develop eight products that will go on sale both in Greece and abroad by the end of the year.

“We founded the company along with Panagiotis Christodoulou in 2019, having started the development of the charger in 2017. In 2020 we started putting the first piece in the market, offering 12 products to date with the Orion series,” MC Chargers co-founder and commercial director Haralambos Marmangelos told newspaper Kathimerini.

“Across Greece we have installed a total of 120-130 public charging stations, and we have already sold around 30 abroad, in Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom and Albania,” he explains.

MC Chargers undertakes the hardware design and develops the software required for the management of the charging terminals and the electrical energy sale transactions. It also undertakes the installation of charging points in Greece and abroad as well as their support and maintenance.

“The heart of the charger – i.e. the motherboard – is our design. We later realized there are few companies in Europe doing that. Several constructors acquire the motherboard ready made, but we design it and have the know-how to intervene at any point, upgrade and adjust it,” says Marmangelos.

This article was previously published at ekathimerini.com.