3 Oct 2024
Meet EIC Scaling Club's Daze – a member of the Club's Smart Mobility group. Founded in 2016, this Italian scale-up has been on a mission to revolutionize the vehicle charging sector since day one. As of 2024, Daze has successfully deployed over 25,000 charging stations, capturing a 20% market share of residential charging stations in Italy. The company remains committed to innovation and is actively developing cutting-edge solutions.
We had an inspirational talk with Daze's CEO and founder Giacomo Zenoni and learned more about the scale-up's solutions, growth journey, and, of course, its participation in the EIC Scaling Club.
From a single product to a powerhouse
Daze's mission has always been pioneering the energy transformation: “We are committed to driving innovation in electric vehicle charging technology, creating a sustainable future for everyone,” says Giacomo. He adds that electric vehicles are basically “batteries on wheels,” and Daze wants to provide the best possible charging option for them.
The scale-up's first product, Dazebox, was introduced to the public in 2020. The team kept developing the product, introducing new functionalities, developing a dedicated app for remote Dazebox management, and more. In 2023, Daze stepped into the home charging systems field with Dazebox Home – a state-of-the-art home charger.
Hence, what once started as a single product mainly for electric vehicles grew into a wide range of charging stations for homes and businesses, including public spaces like restaurants, hotels, and supermarkets. The scale-up now provides comprehensive energy management solutions, integrating with solar panels, batteries, and other home appliances to optimize energy usage and reduce reliance on the grid.
About a month ago, the company introduced a new AI-charging functionality, which enables users to schedule charging during off-peak hours when electricity rates are lower, potentially saving up to 40% on energy costs. “It now grows in Italy, and it's interesting to see it evolving,” adds Giacomo.
Besides the recently launched AI functionality, Daze is working on another groundbreaking product, an automated charging station designed to revolutionize the EV charging experience. This innovative technology features a robotic connector that automatically aligns with the charging port of an EV, eliminating the need for a manual connection.
Two engineers, one vision
The journey of Daze began with two co-founders, Giacomo himself and Andrea Daminelli, who were mechanical engineers and didn't have entrepreneurial experience before Daze. “We learned everything from scratch and have done the same with all our teams. We don't hire super-experienced people. What works for us is hiring young people hungry for knowledge and teaching them”, says Giacomo, adding that the company pays extra attention to employee retention by offering, for example, a stock option plan and other attractive retention packages.
Currently, Daze's team consists of 72 employees spread across four countries. Italy remains the company's primary market, accounting for approximately 90% of its business. While Daze aims to dominate the Italian market, it's also expanding its operations in Spain and France.
Despite its praiseworthy success, like many scale-ups, Daze has faced its share of challenges. Giacomo emphasizes the two main ones – pivoting and dealing with today's market.
“Our initial focus was on developing an automated charging station. However, we quickly realized that this would be a long-term endeavor, taking several years to bring to market due to factors like car manufacturer involvement and standardization. This led us to pivot our strategy and explore other revenue-generating opportunities to sustain the company while continuing our work on the automated charger.”
Regarding the market challenge, the CEO explains that while Daze is growing in Italy, growth beyond its borders is slower than it would wish. Expansion to other European countries is often challenged by market fluctuations and government incentives. Daze is implementing a three-pronged strategy to address the hurdles: market diversification, product expansion, and value-added services.
Awarded and empowered: Joining the EIC Scaling Club
While mitigating the market challenges and product development hurdles can be exhausting, Daze has plenty of reasons to be proud of its current state. Giacomo mentions that the scale-up pays attention not only to functionality but also to the design of its products:
“Our design is our strong suit. We have won several prizes, including the German Design Award 2024 and Archiproducts Design Award 2023. Besides that, we won the Smart and Start initiative by Invitalia and the EIC-Accelerator Pilot call.”
Moreover, in December 2023, Daze closed a Series A funding round of 15 million euros.
Asked about Daze's participation in the EIC Scaling Club, Giacomo shares: “The main thing I want to gain from the Club is connections with partners and possible customers. I discovered that reaching the right people through the Scaling Club is easier. I believe this is its primary value, at least from our perspective.”
About the EIC Scaling Club
The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.
The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.
The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.
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