Einride Adds Investors, Eyes US Market
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Einride, the Swedish provider of an autonomous, all-electric transport vehicle, announced $25 million in Series A funding to assist in expanding to the United States, among other goals.
The investment in the startup was co-led by the EQT Ventures fund, the European multistage venture capital fund with commitments of about $631 million, and NordicNinja VC, a tech-focused $112 million Nordic and Baltic fund backed by Panasonic, Honda, Omron and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
Other investors joining the round included Ericsson Ventures, Norrsken Foundation, Plum Alley Investments and Plug and Play Ventures.
Shaped somewhat like a pup trailer, Einride鈥檚 vehicle has no cab, no driver鈥檚 seat or windows 鈥 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.
Instead of the traditional driver, workers in a back office will remotely monitor and, if needed, remotely control the self-driving vehicle.
Einride鈥檚 solution for self-driving electric trucks is based on a variety of technologies, including advanced safety systems and sensors like lidar, radar and cameras, used to position the vehicle and observe its surroundings.
The funds will support both organizational growth and continued investments in Einride鈥檚 software platform as well as further international expansion, enabling the company to keep on building demand for sustainable transport and delivering on its growing number of customer contracts with major global players like logistics provider DB Schenker, supermarket chain Lidl and large U.S.-based transport intensive companies.
鈥淥ur ambition is to disrupt the transport industry and closing our series A brings us one step closer to that goal. The funding will allow us to start expanding in the U.S., deliver on our technology road map and to meet rapidly increasing customer demand,鈥 said Robert Falck, CEO and founder of Einride.
鈥淲e are proud to have such a strong lineup of international investors joining Einride as shareholders. Their support and combined experience will help us to continue delivering new commercial milestones and technological breakthroughs, transforming road freight transport as we know it, making it more efficient, safe and sustainable,鈥 Falck added.
Recently, the Port of Helsingborg in Sweden entered into a partnership with Einride to develop an autonomous, electric transport system. The project started Oct. 1 and the first step will be to analyze the transport flow in the port area.
鈥淚n the third quarter of 2021, we hope to have a pilot in place to transport containers between two different parts in our port area. As the last level and step three, the vehicles should be able to drive 4 kilometers to 5 kilometers outside the port,鈥 said Mats Fernebrand, purchasing manager at the port.
Einride鈥檚 vehicle was on display in the exhibit hall at the Transportation Research Board鈥檚 annual meeting, in Washington, D.C., Jan. 7-11.
Einride was founded in 2016.
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