Einride Secures an Additional $500 Million in Funding
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Freight mobility technology company Einride announced it secured $500 million in financing, including a Series C equity raise and a debt facility.
The $300 million in debt financing — which includes an initial facility rollout of $150 million starting in January — signed with Barclays Europe ensures long-term funding for Einride’s current and future electric, heavy-duty vehicle fleets.
Shaped somewhat like a pup trailer, Einride’s vehicle has no cab, no driver’s seat or windows — making it an entirely new vehicle type. Vehicles without a cab are lighter and can be developed and designed for electric propulsion, according to the company.
Einride’s autonomous, all-electric vehicles are coordinated by intelligent routing software that integrates traffic and customer data to optimize delivery time, battery life and energy consumption, according to the company. Each vehicle is remotely monitored by a human operator. Einride’s solution for self-driving electric trucks is based on a variety of technologies, including advanced safety systems and sensors — such as lidar, radar and cameras — used to position the vehicle and observe its surroundings.
Falck
“The time is now to act on not only developing but accelerating the implementation of technology that will create a cleaner, safer and more efficient way to move goods,” Einride founder and CEO Robert Falck said in a release. “We’ve created the Einride ecosystem to provide the most resilient and future-proof approach to electrifying freight today. With the support from our investors and shared belief in this mission, we’ll continue to drive disruptive change to global freight at scale.”
The $200 million in equity contribution, including $90 million raised earlier this year, was led by a consortium of new investors as well as strong continued support from existing shareholders, according to the Stockholm-based company. Investors included Swedish pension fund AMF, EQT Ventures, Northzone, Polar Structure, Norrsken VC and Temasek.
Over the past 12 months, the company announced expansions into Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Norway. It deployed operations for new clients including Electrolux, GE Appliances, a Haier company and Bridgestone.
Bucking a trend where venture capital spending has nosedived, Swedish autonomous electric freight transport developer Einride announced it won a stunning new round of investments. https://t.co/vfWmgFqFW1 — Forbes (@Forbes) December 8, 2022
In October, Einride successfully completed a pilot on a U.S. public road with its autonomous vehicle. The driverless Einride Pod was remotely monitored by a human operator while transporting goods among mixed traffic. Initially, it was just one cab-less pod on the streets as well as tests with teams at various warehouses for loading and unloading.
In 2019, it operated heavy-duty autonomous vehicles on public roads in Sweden in a partnership with the Port of Helsingborg to develop an autonomous, electric transport system.
The company, founded in 2016, launched the autonomous and cab-less Einride Pod transport truck in 2017. Einride showcased its pod vehicle at the Transportation Research Board’s 2018 annual meeting in Washington.
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