Take charge

About Take charge

Take Charge (berizaryad.ru), operating as JSC "ZARYAD!", is a significant player in the Russian power bank sharing market, effectively creating the industry within the country. The company was founded by Kirill Kulakov in 2018. The inspiration for the business came from Kulakov's personal experience in Zurich in 2017, where he found himself with a dead phone and discovered the convenience of renting a power bank from a local kiosk. This event, coupled with his background from the Skolkovo Startup Academy, motivated him to develop a similar service for Russia.

The company's core business is providing portable charger (power bank) rental services through a network of automated stations. Clients use a mobile application to locate a nearby station, scan a QR code, and retrieve a power bank equipped with cables for various devices, including micro-USB, Type-C, and Lightning connectors. The service operates on a pay-per-use model, with fees charged for specific time intervals, such as by the hour or by the day. Users can return the power bank to any of the company's stations, offering considerable flexibility. The business primarily targets individuals on the go who need to charge their mobile devices, placing its stations in high-traffic public locations like shopping centers, cafes, restaurants, airports, and metro stations.

Take Charge has demonstrated substantial growth since its inception. Starting with a few stations in Moscow restaurants in summer 2018, the company quickly expanded to St. Petersburg after securing an initial investment of 29 million rubles. A major growth driver has been its franchise model, launched in 2019, which facilitated expansion across Russia and into neighboring countries like Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. By 2024, the company commanded an estimated 70% of the Russian power bank rental market, with a network of approximately 40,000 charging stations in over 200 cities and a user base of 6 million people. A significant milestone occurred in December 2024, when the company was acquired by the Russian tech giant Yandex. Following the acquisition, Take Charge was integrated into the Yandex Go division, which includes other sharing services. The plan included making the power bank rental service available directly through the Yandex Go application in the first quarter of 2025.