Self-driving Trucks Startup Einride Raises $100m

Einride, nan Swedish startup known for its unusual-looking electrical and autonomous pods that are designed to transportation freight, said Wednesday it has raised $100 cardinal from respective caller and existing investors, including its largest shareholder, EQT Ventures.

The raise included an undisclosed strategical finance from quantum computing institution IonQ. Neither Einride, nor its investors, disclosed nan company’s post-money valuation.

The backing comes arsenic Einride adjusts to a caller CEO and tries to standard its 3 business products: electrical large rigs, autonomous pod-like trucks that navigate fixed routes, and readying package designed for shippers. Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli said nan backing would let nan institution to turn pinch its customer guidelines and accelerate nan deployment of its autonomous freight technology.

The company, which was founded successful 2016, started successful Sweden pinch a ngo to disrupt nan freight manufacture — first pinch electrical trucks, past pinch electrical autonomous pods, which are purpose-built without a steering instrumentality aliases pedals for self-driving.

Einride has expanded beyond Sweden and operates a fleet of heavy-duty electrical trucks successful Europe, North America, and nan UAE, for companies for illustration PepsiCo, Carlsberg Sweden, and DP World. The institution has made immoderate inroads pinch its autonomous pod-like trucks pinch customers Apotea successful Sweden and GE Appliances successful nan United States.

“We judge Einride is building nan astir complete and forward-looking freight ecosystem connected nan marketplace today,” Ted Persson, partner astatine EQT Ventures, said successful a statement. “Nordic tech has a wont of being underestimated, until it softly rewires an full industry. That’s precisely what Einride is doing successful freight.”

Still, Einride has undergone soul changes and has grappled — on pinch nan remainder of nan nascent autonomous conveyance exertion assemblage — pinch nan agelong and costly process of moving from improvement to commercialized operations.

Five months ago, Einride co-founder Robert Falck near nan CEO domiciled and took complete arsenic executive president of nan committee to attraction connected nan company’s semipermanent strategy. Charli, who had been CFO, was promoted to nan apical activity position.

The institution antecedently raised $500 million successful 2022 successful a Series C information of equity and debt. The equity-based $200 cardinal information came from backers including Northzone, EQT Ventures, Temasek, Swedish pension money AMF, Polar Structure, and Norrsken VC. It besides secured $300 cardinal successful indebtedness backing led by Barclays Europe.