Bluedot, a banking and rewards platform that aims to improve the after-sales experience for electric vehicles, received an investment of $2 million.
Bluedot, a banking and rewards platform that aims to improve the after-sales experience for electric vehicles, received an investment of $2 million. The startup, which will join Y Combinator’s 2023 winter cohort, focuses primarily on charging stations.,
Aiming to improve the after-sales experience for electric vehicle owners, the domestic banking and rewards platform Bluedot offers various opportunities for individual car owners and fleet owners. People who want to use the platform sign up for the system with the bank card they will use at the charging stations. Those who sign up receive a flat fee of $0.30 per kilowatt hour at contracted EV charging stations. On non-participating charging networks, it receives a 20% refund. Customers find stations in Bluedot’s app and pay for fees directly with partner charging companies, freeing them from the need to download multiple apps.
In addition, users of the initiative receive 5% cash back on all automotive expenses and 2% cash back on all other expenses. The platform provides users with rewards at nearby shopping and dining venues. People who want to drink coffee while the cars are charging and people who want to eat can get up to 15% refund at contracted locations.
Under the Inflation Reduction Act, signed by US President Joe Biden in August 2022, all states have access to over $1.5 billion in financing to facilitate electric vehicle charging projects.
Selinay Filiz Parlak, co-founder and COO of Bluedot, said, “New EV charging companies are looking for solutions like ours to increase the visibility and accessibility of drivers, optimize payment processes and improve the utilization rate of charging stations. Bluedot is trying to integrate financial technology to help these companies make their charging stations more convenient and accessible for drivers. Currently, usage in most charging station networks ranges from 5% to 8%. Bluedot aims to increase this rate to over 15%. We started with small charging station companies, but our goal is to bring all brands together with financial technology for users.”
Parlak says that Bluedot’s next goal will be to help them manage their fleets, expenses and pricing processes and make better deals.
Ferhat Babacan, CEO and co-founder of Bluedot, said, “We aim to establish partnerships and make agreements until demo day. We aim to establish partnerships especially in the areas of car dealership, charging networks and car-related expenditures. We also plan to initiate pilot tests for the Bluedot Fleet Card.”
Bluedot did not say which charging companies it is working with to offer its flat rate. The startup said customers can start charging through the Bluedot app at around 60% of all charging stations in the US.
The startup manually pulls data such as customers’ charging habits, how much they spend, how much power they use, the locations they charge the most, and the amount of carbon dioxide emissions they avoid by using electric vehicles. In the future, the company wants to automate this task to make it smarter and more scalable.
Source: Egirisim / Translated by Irem Yildiz