Swedish freight technology company Einride announced it has secured $500 million in financing, which should help it bring its updated self-driving electric truck to market as part of its freight mobility ecosystem.
The financing, which includes a debt facility of $300 million and a Series C equity contribution of $200 million, is the largest asset-backed facility in heavy-duty electric transport to date, according to Einride.
The debt facility was led by Barclays Europe, while the equity funding round included investors like Swedish pension fund AMF, EQT Ventures, Northzone, Polar Structure, Norrsken VC and Temasek, among other leading companies. The equity contribution includes a $90 million convertible note raised earlier this year.
Einride says the investment will provide transformative funding for its fleet of electric vehicles across the world, as it represents a next step in the funding of new developments and deployments across its autonomous and digital offerings. The money will also help Einride expand its offerings to new markets and clients and develop an autonomous and electric freight mobility ecosystem.
"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."
Robert Falck, Founder and CEO at Einride
Gallery: Einride Gen 2 Rigid Large Autonomous Electric Truck
In the past 12 months, Einride has announced expansions into several European countries, including Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Norway, as well as deployed operations for numerous new clients including Electrolux, GE Appliances and Bridgestone.
In October 2022, Einride successfully completed a pilot on a US public road with its autonomous vehicle, becoming the first company to receive approval to do so for a vehicle without a safety driver on board.
Last month, the startup unveiled the second iteration of its self-driving truck prototype, the Gen 2 Rigid Large (shown in the gallery above). The vehicle offers a larger cargo hold than the Gen 1 pod, updated optics form sensors, updated maximum speed and night vision capabilities.
The interface used to operate it remotely—Remote Interface—has also been upgraded. Einride expects to start deploying the Gen 2 at customer sites starting in 2023. As with the Gen 1, the Gen 2 Rigid Large has no cab or seating area for a human driver. It can be controlled remotely by a human operator using a joystick and other controls while sitting at a desk and looking at large screens showing live video feeds of the truck's cameras.
Interestingly, while Einride has built its initial pod truck prototypes, it plans to eventually contract its manufacturing to others, Falck told Automotive News.
