Munich Startup: What does your startup do? What problem do you solve?
Swey: According to a Californian study, one in five electric car drivers returns their car because they are so annoyed by the charging process and charging time. We solve this problemBy collecting shopping and entertainment options around the charging station and offering them in existing mobile charging apps for electric cars, we help EV users use their time effectively.
Essentially, we're bringing the "gas station experience" to the charging station, all using existing infrastructure. In doing so, we're creating a new monetization channel for the entire charging infrastructure and e-mobility industry.
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Swey: Actually not. Swey is the first value-added charging company to offer personalized and local mobility services on smartphones. There are similar approaches, including from our hometown of Munich, which use different delivery channels. Mobile First is just one of our USPs.
An early pivot for Swey
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Swey: We started because we were concerned about the poor performance of the charging infrastructure for electric cars in Germany. After a thorough analysis, we decided to focus on the topic of "charging time."
We were founded in May 2021 with a concept for our own charging app, which also includes payment and cashback features. By the end of 2021, however, it became clear that this would be difficult to achieve, as the market was already flooded with a wealth of mobile charging apps.
So at the beginning of 2022, we rewrote our story and focused on a B2B platform model We focused on a solution that integrates the offerings into existing apps. We first presented it at SXSW in Austin to test how people responded to the idea. It went so well that by Vivatech in Paris, we had already had the first investors on board, allowing us to develop the product and build a partner network. At the beginning of the year, another investor, Henk de Jong from the Netherlands, joined us. We will launch the first projects in April 2023.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Swey: The biggest challenge was undoubtedly to abandon our original idea of having our own app and to focus on the business as a B2B platform.
Furthermore, it's always a huge challenge to introduce something completely new to the market and understand user behavior accordingly, but fortunately, we have sufficient expertise. We're also extremely fortunate that the entire charging infrastructure industry is looking for ways to monetize this infrastructure, and we offer a new and highly lucrative solution for that.
“We want to be established in Germany in one year”
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Swey: In one year, we want to be established in Germany and have a foothold in the key European markets and the US market. Five years is still a long way off, but we want to be established throughout the European and US markets by then and also offer additional products beyond integration into charging apps.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Swey: A first-class environment. We've especially benefited greatly from UnternehmerTUM, Munich Urban Colab, and the Digital Hub Mobility in Munich. Without them, Swey wouldn't exist. But in general, Munich has become a really good location for startups. With you, Werk1, and many other institutions, investors, and many others, things have really taken off.
Munich Startup: Public transport or bicycle?
Swey: E-mobility.
