Hello!
We are Vasiliy and Emil, two 22-year-old young men. Finishing university and working simultaneously, we previously gained modest but valuable experience in entrepreneurship. Our early activity involved creating engravings and unique customized gifts. Observing the development of sharing systems nowadays, we noticed a scarcity of services like the ones we describe below.
Modern smartphones have numerous functions but their batteries often have limited usage time, especially with active usage. This creates inconvenience when you run out of charge and need to find a socket or adapter for charging. Being tethered to a location isn't always convenient.
We offer a solution in the form of communal stations where you can rent a power bank with connectors for any phone. After charging your phone you can return the power bank to another station across the city. Detailed information about station locations and rental conditions is available in our mobile application.
Both us and many people we surveyed have faced the need to quickly charge our smartphones. Our service helps avoid waiting and the need to purchase and charge personal power banks. We provide accessible and convenient charging for those who don't want to waste time and nerves searching for a charging spot. We also aim to promote and demonstrate all the advantages of the sharing economy, where there's no need to buy your own machines or equipment to use them, understanding that you won't use them as often as you think, thus making smarter choices to preserve nature and be more responsible for resources.
The operating principle is similar to scooter rentals. Upon downloading the app, you'll need to choose the region and link a card or any other payment method. The first 5 minutes are free. The hourly price is 1.99 euros. The price for the entire day is 6 euros. These prices are based on market averages, focusing on Latvian companies and a company that previously operated in Estonia.
Stations will be installed indoors, in cafes, restaurants, shopping centers, cinemas, airports, bus stations, entertainment facilities and offices.
Key clients include students, schoolchildren, individuals with an active lifestyle, tourists, youth, holidaymakers and entrepreneurs.
- Youth and students (18-34 years old): About 95% of this age group uses mobile phones.
- Business professionals: Approximately 85% of business professionals use mobile phones for work tasks.
- Tourists and travelers: Nearly 90% of tourists and travelers carry mobile phones with them.
Social activity: Over 70% of active social media users of various ages prefer mobile devices for accessing social media.
Current status
We are purchasing these stations from the American company Chargemate, of which we are franchisees. This company is already operating in the American market. The services provided by our franchisors include the website Chargemate.me, station manufacturing and shipment, consultation, technical support and app development for the Estonian region. At present, we've established the company, bought the initial 13 stations and concurrently conducted market analysis, which yielded very positive results.
Our physical team in Estonia consists of 2 individuals. Our main tasks include installation, maintenance, brand promotion for Chargemate, station management and client base management.
Why we are viable?
A survey of a competitor company - Fast Energy - a Ukrainian sharing company that operated in Estonia during the third quarter of 2022, showed that the market received the installation and services of this service very favorably.
The company being Ukrainian, during the onset of the war in Ukraine, the stations were relocated to Europe, including Estonia. The company's managers handled the setup and maintenance of these stations in Tallinn. During the setup, 50 stations were deployed within a month, which is a very good indicator of market loyalty, given Estonia's digitalization. Customers quickly embraced this new concept - on average, each station had 1-2 rentals per day, which is a good indicative estimate.
However, due to the war and the absence of local managers to maintain the stations and operate under the franchise, they were forced to withdraw these stations from local points.
According to our partners working with our franchisors in Latvia, where the market is very similar to ours, we see good rental figures and development in this area. On average, there is one rental per station in a day, which aligns with our estimated figures.
Currently we have put into operation the existing 13 stations, located in the Old Town area in restaurants and cafes such as Beer Garden, BWB Belgian Gasto Bar, Kagerou Ramen and others. This stage will allow us to assess the growth rates of this direction in Tallinn and Estonia.
With an optimistic outlook, we plan to install an additional 90 stations in the city of Tallinn by February 2024. If performance is below average, we plan to add 70 stations to Tallinn by February 2024. To fund this part, we plan to acquire the specified number of stations using funds provided by investors.
By August 2024, we plan to optimistically launch 50 stations in Tartu. If performance is below average, we plan to launch 30 stations in Tartu. To fund this part of the project, we plan to acquire the specified number of stations using funds provided by investors.
The initial 5000 euros will provide good support at the start of this project and aid its continued development in Tallinn. This will enable us to purchase 9 more stations that you'll see in Tallinn's restaurants. If we raise an additional 5000 euros, this will allow us to quickly launch stations in Tartu, which will be operational in July 2024.
