Chargifi became Kadence: a wireless-charging startup's hybrid-work pivot raised $10M

Chargifi spent seven years building a network of 'Chargifi Spot' wireless charging points in bars, stadiums, hotels and offices, letting people top up their phones from a free app; TechCrunch had profiled the startup back in 2015. When the pandemic hit, demand for charging a phone in a public place completely dried up.

Rather than wind down, the team repurposed the software and products it had already built for managing wireless charging networks in offices. Relaunching as Kadence, the startup now coordinates people, places and projects for hybrid co-working — working out who is actually in the office and who is remote, a problem that exploded once companies returned to expensive, half-empty office space.

By December 2022 Kadence had raised a $10 million seed round led by Kickstart Fund with participation from Manta Ray, Hambro Perks, Vectr7, Shadow Ventures and Forward VC, plus angels including Slack co-founder and CTO Cal Henderson, Teem CEO Shaun Ritchie and Stanford remote-work researcher Nick Bloom. Founder and CEO Dan Bladen reported 300 customers over the previous 18 months, among them Collibra and Starling Bank.

A $10M seed round led by Kickstart Fund, and 300 customers in the 18 months to December 2022, including Collibra and Starling Bank.

The pivot reused what the company already had — software for managing distributed charging hardware in offices — instead of starting from zero.

The new use case, coordinating hybrid attendance, exploded at exactly the moment the old one died, so the same team could switch markets.

Third-party money validated the move: a $10M seed led by Kickstart Fund and angels such as Cal Henderson and Nick Bloom.

Bladen reframed the product around the customer's economics, claiming the software cuts office space by 68% — coordination as a cost line, not a perk.

When a demand shock kills the use case, the software built to run the old business can become the new business — repurpose the platform and change the customer.

As of December 2022 Kadence claimed 300 customers in the prior 18 months, including Collibra and Starling Bank, and said its software could cut office space by 68% while increasing the number of employees coming in to collaborate by 25% month over month. Bladen's pitch to buyers: companies that win the hybrid age will treat the working week, not the office, as the platform for work.