Ray Enters the US Betting on a 300,000-Station Charging Market thats Just 3% Built

Ray, a power bank-sharing company, led by Roman Averianov and Igor Kosolap, has announced its launch in New York City, the launchpad for its expansion into the US market. The company is piloting 120 charging stations across Manhattan. Users rent a portable power bank by tapping a bank card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay at the station and return it to any other station in the network.

Founded in 2025 by Igor Kosolap and Roman Averianov, Ray operates battery-charging stations across restaurants, cafés, gyms, and other public venues. After launching in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and raising a $1.2 million seed round, the company is now piloting in New York with funding from an undisclosed pre-seed round. Ray is also part of the current Grishin Robotics accelerator cohort.

New York is Ray’s first U.S. market, with the company targeting restaurants, gyms, hospitals, transit hubs, gaming venues, and hotels. Ray estimates the city could eventually support more than 20,000 charging stations.

The model builds on New York’s existing public-charging infrastructure, including LinkNYC, but moves charging into private venues, allowing users to pick up a charged battery and keep moving.

“Other companies tried to build this before us. Between 2018 and 2019, several startups put most of their funding into building IT platforms, and COVID hit before they could scale the network itself. We get to start from a different place as our platform is already built and running in nine countries, so we can put all our focus into building out the charging network in the US,” said Roman Averianov, CEO Ray USA and co-founder of Ray

Shared mobility services such as bike and scooter rentals have normalized the idea of renting instead of carrying. Ray sees a similar opportunity with portable power banks.

A recent survey of 2,000 U.S. adults found that people begin feeling anxious about their phone battery at an average of 38%, despite most phones displaying a low-battery warning at 20%.

Igor Kosolap, co-founder of Ray and CEO of Ray Global, states, “We see huge potential in the US, with New York as our starting point. Based on our experience abroad, the market can support more than 300,000 stations against fewer than 10,000 today; it's barely built, and we plan to change that.

Every one of our stations runs on Tap-to-Pay: no app, just tap and pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or a card if your phone is dead, in about 15 seconds instead of the usual two to three minutes. Pricing is simple too: you pay for an hour, and if the power bank isn't returned in time, we

charge for a full day - no subscriptions or hidden write-offs.”

Ray estimates the U.S. market at roughly 300,000 charging stations based on station density across markets. China has more than 6 million stations, or about 4.3 per 1,000 people, while the U.S. has roughly 0.04 per 1,000. Using a benchmark of one station per 1,000 people for urban coverage, Ray arrives at its 300,000-station estimate.

The company aims to become a leading player in New York within a year and eventually capture at least one-third of the U.S. market.

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