The idea of monetizing access to outlets in public places turned out to be unviable: Americans are not willing to pay to charge their phones. The second startup of Danylo Tonkopy, founder of the electric bike brand Delfast, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in investment, but failed to gain a foothold in the market.
The idea of monetizing access to outlets in public places turned out to be unviable: Americans are not willing to pay to charge their phones. The second startup of Danylo Tonkopy, founder of the electric bike brand Delfast, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in investment, but failed to gain a foothold in the market.
According to Forbes Ukraine, the startup InCharge One, founded by Danylo in 2023, offered establishments the opportunity to install smart sockets worth $150, for the use of which customers were to pay $2 per hour. The startup was to receive 20% of the transactions.
Although the project received $450,000 in investment from ZAS Ventures, 500 Global, and a private investor from the US, after pilot launches in Los Angeles, scaling did not occur. Some of the cafe’s visitors did not understand why they had to pay for an outlet. The business was wary of customer reactions. An attempt to test demand through the WeFunder platform failed: out of the expected $80,000, only $25,800 was raised, so the money was returned to investors.
In June 2025, Tonkopiy is no longer listed as the company’s CEO, the project’s social media is not updated, and the staff has been reduced to zero. ZAS Ventures admits that the product has not received market demand, but the startup is not formally closed, the team is allegedly testing new hypotheses and does not rule out the resumption of active work.
InCharge One was Tonkopy’s second ambitious project after Delfast, an electric bike company that was transferred to a Chinese partner in 2023 in exchange for a share of future sales. Delfast failed to compete due to its high cost.
Despite the attractive idea of monetizing common things like power outlets, the startup has faced a lack of real demand. According to investors, the American consumer has been unwilling to pay for charging in public places. This situation is a typical example of how even a good hardware product does not guarantee success without a clearly understood market.
We previously wrote about how the startup Infisical, which helps developers and companies securely store passwords, API keys, and other sensitive information, raised $16 million in Series A investment. One of the company’s co-founders is Ukrainian Vladislav Matsiyako, who heads Infisical as CEO.
