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Einride, a developer of autonomous, electrical vehicles, raised $500M in Series C funding. The firm mentioned the funding will allow it to proceed to develop and deploy its expertise and can open up new markets.
Founded out of Stockholm, Sweden in 2016, Einride initially developed a cabless self-driving cargo truck that may also be managed remotely by human operators if required. However, regulatory hurdles led Einride to undertake a two-pronged method that additionally entails human-driven electrical vehicles.
In the previous 12 months, Einride expanded into a number of European international locations — Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Norway — and deployed operations for quite a few new shoppers, together with Electrolux, GE Appliances, a Haier firm, and Bridgestone. In October of 2022, Einride efficiently accomplished a pilot on a U.S. public street with its autonomous automobile.
“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,” mentioned Robert Falck, founder and CEO at Einride. “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.”
Funding breakdown
The financing consists of $300M in debt financing with Barclays Europe, which incorporates an preliminary facility rollout of $150M beginning in January 2023. Einride mentioned this ensures long-term funding for its present and future electrical, heavy-duty automobile fleets.
The financing additionally consists of $200M in fairness contribution led by a consortium of latest buyers, in addition to robust continued assist from present shareholders. Investors embrace main Swedish pension fund AMF, EQT Ventures, Northzone, Polar Structure, Norrsken VC and Temasek. The fairness contribution features a $90M convertible notice raised earlier in 2022.
“This landmark debt facility represents a key milestone in the financing of heavy-duty electric vehicles,” mentioned Gordon Beck, Director of Securitised Products Solutions at Barclays. “The innovative asset-backed structure complements Einride’s unique ecosystem offering and is a continued demonstration of how Barclays is using our financial and capital markets expertise to support clients in driving the transition to net-zero.”
Kodiak Robotics, which can be creating autonomous vehicles, yesterday introduced it received a $49.9 million contract to develop autonomous automobiles for the U.S. army. Kodiak beat out 33 different autonomous automobile corporations for the chance. Under the contract, Kodiak will work with the Army’s Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) program. The firm will develop an autonomous resolution that can be utilized in future Army floor automobiles for reconnaissance, surveillance and different high-risk missions.