INTERVIEW: Anders Thingbø (CEO) – Zaptec 

Anders Thingbø, CEO Zaptec 

Zaptec is the Norwegian tech company that provides smart charging systems for electrical cars. The growth in the electrical vehicle market is happening at an ever-faster pace and demand is continuing to increase.

Since the last time we talked to Zaptec, they had 32 employees – today, 6 months later, Zaptec has doubled the task force to 65 employees and raised its second quarter earnings by +150 %.

In today’s interview we have had the pleasure to hear with Anders Thingbø, CEO, about the driving forces for the strong growth and their expansion plans!

For the new subscribers – please give us an update on what Zaptec is doing and your main products!

Anders Thingbø (CEO): Zaptec charging services is organised through our full owned subsidiary Charge365. The growth for automatic payment services for the energy that goes through the chargers is very high with about 15% of all Zaptec Pro customers signing up for an agreement.

We are now developing the software and will launch automatic payment also in Europe in 2022 and we will ramp up the active sales processes for these services.

Our goal is that 50% of all Pro users will prescribe for our payed services.

Who is Anders? Tell us about yourself and your background! 

Anders Thingbø (CEO): Well, I run Zaptec, the European leader of EV charging systems, along with fantastic colleagues who make sure we are at the top of our game every day. My job is pretty much all time-consuming, but luckily I love my job. The EV and charging industries are changing rapidly, and being a part of this adventure is truly fascinating. I enjoy spending my time outdoors when I don’t work (yes, that happens too) – being active powers everything.

I have broad managerial experience in private equity, retail, and energy, and at the moment, I am really enjoying being part of the EV adventure.

Zaptec expanded to Germany this summer – tell us why you chose Germany!

Anders Thingbø (CEO): Our technology can accelerate the electrification in Germany and the EV adoption is really growing. Germans live in apartments to a high extent and the Zaptec Pro system is ideal to provide scalable charging solutions for multi family homes. It is an essential step in giving intelligent charging solutions to Europe’s largest economy and most populous country. Also, the German government has located several measures to promote electric mobility that can only affect the transformation to EV in a positive matter.

Tell us about the acquisition of NovaVolt!

Anders Thingbø (CEO): Novavolt has been our exclusive dealer in Switzerland since 2017 and has delivered good results, and they know much about the Swiss charging market. The size and scope of the business in Switzerland were at such a level that the owners of Novavolt wanted partners to continue growing. This led us to make a takeover agreement that ensures both parties’ success in the continuation.

We prefer to own subsidiaries with top industry professionals in export markets, and when the owners of Novavolt looked for new partners, the choice was simple.

The revenue increased +150 % to 131 MNOK in the third quarter – what’s the driving factors?

Anders Thingbø (CEO): The increase of EVs is the driving factor for the sales of EV chargers. But also the fact that we have scaled up our production and launched a new product targeted towards single-family homes that we’ve named Zaptec Go. It certainly has an impact. We’re experiencing increased demand in all markets, both in Norway and export markets.

The export accounted for 47 % during the quarter – how do you expect this to develop?

Anders Thingbø (CEO): We expect further growth in Norway and  for the export markets. Today’s figures are a result of strong growth in Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and other markets. We aim for a 70%+ revenue growth for the company and that require successful market entries in Germany, the UK, and France.

In 2022, we assume that 2/3 of turnover will be outside of Norway.

Last time we spoke your goal was to deliver more than 5.000 pro-installations in 2021 – how has this progressed so far?

Anders Thingbø (CEO): We will achieve PRO installations for 5.000 new large parking facilities in multi family homes and office buildings during 2021 so we are proceeding according to plan.

About 10% of the parking bays in a Zaptec Pro installation is equipped with a charger and the rest of the 90% represent a future income for Zaptec.

What’s your focus in the near future?

Anders Thingbø (CEO): Firstly it is to develop our organisation and provide successful careers for existing and new employees in a fast-growing business. So much has happened in the last two years. We have tripled in size regarding the number of employees, and we are scaling up for future expansions.

Secondly, it is essential to develop product and system features tailored to each target country. This means continued work on making better software, services and meeting the government and users’ needs for EV charging. Even though the electrons are similar in each country the regulatory requirements and customers expectations is somewhat different in Europe.

Thirdly, it is entering new markets such as Germany, UK, Denmark, and France. I will also say that participating in investor and industry conferences as well as meeting potential international investors is an interesting andtime consuming part of my job.

Many thanks to Mr. Anders Thingbø, CEO Zaptec, for a very interesting interview! Dagens Börs wishes good luck to the Zaptec-team!

Zaptec (diagram)