Berlin-based Cariqa, the payments and pricing platform built specifically for electric vehicle (EV) charging, has raised €4 million in seed funding to fix the fragmented payments infrastructure holding back Europe’s EV transition.
The EV charging industry is currently defined by complexity and inefficiency. Drivers face a patchwork of apps, QR codes and cards, depending on which provider they use. Prices vary unpredictably, often depending on how a session is started.
Current EV charging payments are built on top of legacy architecture and fragmented market arrangements. CPOs today generate most of their utilisation through third-party apps and charging card providers, all setting their own prices. This often results in users facing up to 50 different prices at the same EV charging station.
Issam Tidjani, CEO and co-founder of Cariqa, shared:
Imagine walking into a supermarket and finding that the price of milk changes depending on whether you pay by cash, card, or which bank you use - no one would accept that. Yet in EV charging, this kind of pricing inconsistency is still the norm. At Cariqa, we’re rebuilding the transactional backbone of the industry to ensure consistency, transparency, and trust, making the market ready for true mass adoption.
To reduce dependency, many CPOs build their own payment solutions. But with every provider adding yet another app or card, the system becomes even more fragmented, leading to bloated fees, inconsistent experiences, and a charging landscape no one fully controls.
Cariqa replaces this complexity with a unified infrastructure layer, designed from the ground up for EV charging. This ensures complete control and visibility for operators, and a consistent, predictable experience for drivers.
Stefano Bonetta, CTO and co-founder of Cariqa, commented:
By removing unnecessary intermediaries and creating a single source of truth for pricing, we reduce costs, improve transparency, and simplify interactions without surfacing underlying complexity, paving the way for a seamless and intelligent EV economy.
Behind the scenes, operators face chaos managing outdated billing systems, dozens of payment integrations, and conflicting price logic across multiple platforms. The result is confusion, inefficiency and mistrust - at the exact moment when EV adoption needs to accelerate.
Cariqa fixes this. Its platform simplifies how the entire ecosystem handles pricing and payments. For operators, it’s one dashboard with real-time control. For drivers, it’s one clear price, every time.
Tamara Ciullo, CCO and co-founder at Cariqa, commented:
The EV charging market is still young and that gives us a unique chance to build it right from the ground up. Just because a fragmented and inefficient system has taken hold doesn’t mean we have to accept it. EV drivers deserve transparent pricing. CPOs should be in control of their infrastructure. Together, we can create a better, fairer system without relying on unnecessary intermediaries.
Cariqa provides a full-stack platform to manage dynamic pricing, orchestrate payments, and automate compliance. It integrates directly with existing systems and supports all major charging workflows, so operators can streamline operations without switching out their tech stack.
Mario La Pergola, COO and founding member, commented:
We raised this round on the strength of our team’s execution. We delivered our key pre-seed objectives on time with a lean setup. It’s now time to build on top of the existing platform.
The oversubscribed and competitive round was co-led by Anthemis and Contrarian Ventures, with participation from Earth, Anthemis Female Innovators Lab, Golden Egg Check and Techstars.
Marin Cauvas, Partner at Anthemis, said:
Building scalable and resilient payment infrastructure to support EV charging has been totally overlooked. Cariqa’s founding team understands the problem at a systems level, and have built the right technical foundation to fix it.
Tomas Kemtys, General Partner at Contrarian Ventures, who co-led the round, added: “EV charging is held back by misaligned incentives and fragmented technology. Cariqa’s infrastructure-first approach offers a smarter, simpler solution - one that puts operators back in charge.”
Cariqa will use the seed funding to expand across key European markets, grow its product and engineering teams, and integrate with leading operators, vehicle manufacturers and fleet providers.
Cariqa is already trusted by major charge point operators, such as Pfalzwerke, EWE Go, Qwello, Q1, Mer and many more. Cariqa is also onboarding a number of large-scale operators to expand further.
Lead image: Cariqa co-founders | Photo: Uncredited
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