Led by Siemens AG, electric vehicle charging station maker ChargePoint Inc secures $43 million of funding

Electric vehicle charging station maker ChargePoint Inc said on Wednesday it had secured $43 million in financing led by German engineering group Siemens AG, bringing to a close the U.S. company's latest funding round at $125 million.ChargePoint, the world's largest network of electric vehicle charging systems, also said Ralf Christian, chief executive officer of Siemens' energy management division, would join its board. Earlier in March, the privately held Silicon Valley company secured an initial $82 million in its Series G funding round, led by German automaker Daimler AG.Siemens will collaborate on the development of charging stations for the European market, ChargePoint said in a statement. The German company, which already makes its own units and installs and maintains charging equipment, declined to provide further information. ChargePoint Inc operates more than 34,500 charging ports in the United States and Mexico but is now looking to expand into the highly fragmented European market.Earlier this week, it said it had obtained a license to become the exclusive operator of GE's EV charging network. Last month, ChargePoint announced its first European deal, to sell more than 200 of its recently released "Express Plus" systems to InstaVolt, which is installing a network of fast chargers across Britain.Reuters