Freight mobility technology startup Einride announced it has obtained $500 million in funding, which includes a Series C equity round and a lending facility. The debt financing, the largest asset-backed credit for heavy-duty electric cars to date, will provide transformative finance for Einride’s global fleet of electric vehicles. The Series C provides capital for additional developments and deployments throughout Einride’s autonomous and digital products, as well as expansion into new markets and customers.
“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,” said 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.”
Einride’s existing and future electric, heavy-duty vehicle fleets will have access to long-term funding thanks to the $300 million in debt financing announced with Barclays Europe, which includes a $150 million initial facility rollout beginning in January 2023. Clients of Einride employ the capacity of these vehicles as part of Einride’s comprehensive freight ecosystem offering. The multijurisdictional and multicurrency facility supports Einride’s global fleet in the United States and Europe, as well as planned expansions in the future.
“This landmark debt facility represents a key milestone in the financing of heavy-duty electric vehicles,” said 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”.
In addition, Einride has obtained an initial equity infusion of $200 million led by a consortium of new investors, in addition to the continued backing of its existing shareholders. AMF, EQT Ventures, Northzone, Polar Structure, Norrsken VC, and Temasek are some of the investors. Included in the equity commitment is a $90M convertible note issued earlier this year.
Einride unlocks a robust, cost-effective future for freight by constructing freight mobility grids driven by a first-of-its-kind ecosystem, including the intelligent platform Einride Saga, electric and autonomous trucks fleets, charging infrastructure, and communication networks. In the past year, the company has announced expansions into Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Norway, as well as the deployment of operations for various new clients, including Electrolux, GE Appliances, a subsidiary of Haier, and Bridgestone.
In October of 2022, Einride successfully completed a pilot test of an autonomous car on a public road in the United States, becoming the first business to do so for a vehicle without a safety driver on board. It was the first company in the world to run autonomous heavy-duty vehicles on public roads in 2019.
Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE acted as sole placement agent on the equity capital raise.
