The PodPoint Collapse: From Startup Success to Public Market Failure

I was shocked to see the spectacular fall of PodPoint, once the darling of the UK’s EV charging boom. How could a company so well-funded in a booming market fail so dramatically?

Let’s unpack PodPoint’s trajectory, the rise… and the crash:

2009: Founded as an early mover in EV charging — long before EVs were mainstream
Raised £16M across early rounds up to 2020
Feb 2020: EDF & Legal & General JV acquires a majority stake at a £110M valuation
Nov 2021: IPO at 225p/share — valued at £352M (a 3x uplift in 18 months)
Nov 2022: Shares down 70% to 69p
Late 2024: Shares drop further 80% to 13p despite installing 250K+ chargers and industry awards
Jan 2025: Profit warning triggers another 40% fall
Apr 2025: Audit uncovers bad debts → shares fall another 25%
June 2025: EDF offers to buy remaining shares at 6.5p — valuing the company at £10M, a 97% destruction in value vs IPO

So, why Did PodPoint Crash?

Hype Cycle Overload
The 2021 IPO rode a wave of EV optimism, with UK charging projected to hit £13.1bn by 2030. But PodPoint was part of the “growth-without-profitability” tech IPO cohort. When monetary conditions tightened in 2022, sentiment turned — and valuations deflated fast.

B2C Dependency Risk
PodPoint focused heavily on home and public charging, but its B2C model relied on government grants. Once the Homecharge Grant was removed in 2022, revenues in that core division fell 35%. Despite a booming market, losses ballooned from £19.9M (2022) to £83.2M (2023).

Losing the Infrastructure Race
While PodPoint deployed 250K+ charge points, rivals like BP Pulse and InstaVolt pulled ahead with DC fast chargers, stronger customer experience, and more capital. PodPoint stayed stuck with slower AC legacy infrastructure — lacking scale advantage or defensible moat.

This is a cautionary and sobering tale for cleantech hardware startups. So what are the lessons learned?

We have some thoughts at NovAzure and welcome a discussion, as we regularly help climate tech hardware startups to successfully manoeuvre through these challenges.