Chargepoint has acquired electric vehicle (EV) charging software provider Has.to.be as part of its European expansion.

The deal is worth £216m and includes Has.to.be’s operating software, which manages more than 40,000 charge points in Europe.

Pasquale Romano, president and CEO of ChargePoint, said: “As an established leader in North America, our continued investment in Europe is critical to our stated growth strategy.

“We’re excited to announce our agreement to acquire Has.to.be, a leader in its own right with a talented team, an impressive base of customers committed to e-mobility and robust technology. Our combined assets should position us to accelerate our leadership as electrification continues to take hold across continents.”

Has.to.be was founded in 2013 and secured early investment from VW Group. Its customers include Audi, BP, Ionity, GP Joule, Lidl, Porsche and Total.

The Has.to.be team, customers and technology will become part of ChargePoint’s operations when the transaction concludes later this year.

ChargePoint will be positioned to benefit from the company’s strong European market share, especially in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Martin Klässner, co-founder and CEO of Has.to.be, said, “Over the past eight years, our talented team has helped lead e-mobility in Europe and attracted a large base of leading brands as customers who rely on our charging software platform every day to meet their technical requirements. Together with the resources of ChargePoint, we will continue in this spirit and achieve even greater scale as the market continues to expand.”