SemaConnect
An early position in the physical layer of transportation electrification: backed in 2020, scaled into one of North America's leading EV-charging networks, and realized in Blink Charging's $200 million acquisition two years later.
The cars were coming. The charging wasn't.
By 2020, electric-vehicle adoption was accelerating on a curve that wasn't going to bend back. But the infrastructure to support it (the chargers, the software, the networks) was fragmented, under-built, and under-capitalized. The enablement layer was the bottleneck.
SemaConnect, headquartered in Bowie, Maryland, was one of the companies building it well: elegantly designed Level 2 and DC fast chargers paired with an open, robust network platform, and trusted relationships with the customers who were going to deploy charging at scale: fleet operators, commercial real estate, and multi-family residential firms across North America.
Greenbelt led the 2020 investment that gave the company the capital and partnership to scale: professionalizing the go-to-market, broadening into fleet, and building toward the position that would make it a strategic acquisition target. The same pattern that runs through the portfolio: back the company at the enablement layer of a multi-decade transformation, then help it become what it could be.
Rapid growth in a short hold period.
Greenbelt Leads the Investment
A Greenbelt team-led investor group backs SemaConnect: capital and a scaling partner for one of North America's leading EV-charging hardware and network providers, focused on commercial and multi-family real estate.
Into High-Power Fleet Charging
SemaConnect launches high-power EV charging for fleets, extending beyond its real-estate base into the segment where electrification was about to move fastest, and where charging needs are heaviest.
Acquired by Blink Charging for $200M
Blink Charging acquires SemaConnect in a $200 million cash-and-stock transaction, closing in June 2022. A clean, full realization roughly two years after the initial investment.
What SemaConnect Brought to Blink
In June 2022, Blink Charging acquired SemaConnect for $200 million in cash and stock. It was a transformative deal for the acquirer, and the kind of outcome the thesis is built to produce.
The transaction added roughly 13,000 EV chargers, about 3,800 site-host locations, and more than 150,000 registered EV-driver members to Blink's footprint. With it, Blink became the only EV-charging company offering complete vertical integration: from R&D and manufacturing through charger ownership and operations. SemaConnect's chargers were folded into the Blink Network; its customers, accounts, and station preferences carried over intact.
“[Greenbelt] quickly understood our vision and the potential for SemaConnect and brought an exceptional track record of working alongside entrepreneurs to drive growth.”Mark Pastrone · Chief Operating Officer, SemaConnect
Legal DisclaimerNo compensation was paid in exchange for the above testimonial, but founders and executives receive ordinary course compensation and could, and have, received other benefits as a result of their ownership/role in the applicable portfolio company, which could and have created conflicts of interest that provide an incentive to recommend Greenbelt.
Information presented for illustrative purposes only. Past performance is not indicative of future results. SemaConnect is a realized investment of Trilantic North America that the Greenbelt team previously monitored and were responsible for sourcing and leading the underwriting and execution of. Certain statements herein are based on Greenbelt's beliefs and are not intended as statements of fact or any representation that stated outcomes will be repeated.