Investors pump $125 million into EV charging startup Volta

By Paul Lienert

(Reuters) - Volta, a San Francisco-based electric vehicle charging startup, said on Tuesday it had raised $125 million from investors.

The Series D round brings Volta's total funding to more than $200 million, the company said.

Volta is riding a wave of investor enthusiasm for electric vehicles and related businesses. That wave has pushed the value of EV leader Tesla close to $800 billion and Chinese newcomer Nio to nearly $90 billion.

Founded in 2010, Volta has been funded by a broad array of private and corporate investors, including South Korea's SK Innovation and France's Total SE.

Among Volta's chief competitors is ChargePoint, which has raised nearly $1 billion and agreed last fall to go public via a reverse merger with Switchback Energy Acquisition Corp.

Chargepoint's corporate backers include Daimler, Chevron and Siemens, according to investor website PitchBook.

(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)