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Acquisition x 2

June 19, 2019

· 3 min read
Elemental Excelerator

Are you ready for this? We have a short rhyme for you. Scoot and Go Electric got acquired. I know! We’re excited too!

 

You May Have Heard … Scoot Was Acquired By Bird
Scoot joined the Elemental portfolio in 2018.
In our opinion, they’re leading the way in bringing equity into the micromobility scene.

 

Go Electric & Saft = The Perfect Match
Go Electric joined our portfolio in 2015. 
They’ve been a joy to work with and it’s been a pleasure being a part of their extended team. 
Last week, we sat down with Lisa Laughner, Go Electric’s CEO, 
and she told us a story that we had to share, so here we go. 

Have you heard of Anderson? It’s a land far far away.
It’s a city in the midwest 2,000 miles from the Bay.

Anderson is home to a startup, Go Electric’s its name.
It was acquired by Saft on the 31st of May.

What is Go Electric? And why was it there?
And why was Saft + Go Electric the perfect pair?

Meet Lisa Laughner, Go Electric’s fearless CEO.
She co-founded the company and fueled its growth.

Then there’s Alex and Tony who played a part from the start.
It’s a microgrid technology that will keep our most important assets out of the dark.

The three of them, the co-founders, have endless stories to tell.
One story we’ll share here is of the company getting saved by the bell.

Go Electric wasn’t always the microgrid company you know.
They started out as an off-grid EV charger, but business was slow.

Lisa was funding the company herself. $50k was her limit.
Its founders went without salaries for a hot minute.

The year was 2013. Go Electric was running on empty.
Its founders had gone for 2.5 years without making a penny.

As the fearless leader, Lisa knew she had to make the call.
“We’re closing the company,” she said. “We’re not getting any traction at all.”

It was a tough decision, but the board members agreed.
Each faxed in their vote yes except for one, of the seats.

I guess he forgot, but it’s a good thing he did.
Because three days later Lisa got a message saying they had won a $3 million bid.

The DoD was on the phone about a microgrid project in Hawaii.
The deal saved the company. Man, what serendipity?!

A few months later, we met Lisa, Tony, and Alex.
Go Electric joined Elemental’s portfolio with the goal of scaling the company 10x.

Fast forward to this May. Go Electric was acquired.
Its founders had a lot of inbound interest, and they wanted to select the right buyer.

Go Electric will stay in Anderson right where it was founded.
It will be Saft’s microgrid center of excellence! The team loved how that sounded.

Looking back on this chapter, Go Electric, can we share one thing with you?
Congratulations, on it all. You really deserve this. It’s true.