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Einride, a developer of autonomous, electric trucks, raised $500M in Series C funding. The company said the funding will enable it to continue to develop and deploy its technology and will open up new markets.

Founded out of Stockholm, Sweden in 2016, Einride initially developed a cabless self-driving cargo truck that can also be controlled remotely by human operators if required. However, regulatory hurdles led Einride to adopt a two-pronged approach that also involves human-driven electric trucks.

In the past 12 months, Einride expanded into several European countries — Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Norway — and deployed operations for numerous new clients, including Electrolux, GE Appliances, a Haier company, and Bridgestone. In October of 2022, Einride successfully completed a pilot on a U.S. public road with its autonomous vehicle.

“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.”

Funding breakdown

The financing includes $300M in debt financing with Barclays Europe, which includes an initial facility rollout of $150M starting in January 2023. Einride said this ensures long-term funding for its current and future electric, heavy-duty vehicle fleets.

The financing also includes $200M in equity contribution led by a consortium of new investors, as well as strong continued support from existing shareholders. Investors include leading Swedish pension fund AMF, EQT Ventures, Northzone, Polar Structure, Norrsken VC and Temasek. The equity contribution includes a $90M convertible note raised earlier in 2022.

“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.”

Kodiak Robotics, which is also developing autonomous trucks, yesterday announced it won a $49.9 million contract to develop autonomous vehicles for the U.S. military. Kodiak beat out 33 other autonomous vehicle companies for the opportunity. Under the contract, Kodiak will work with the Army’s Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) program. The company will develop an autonomous solution that can be used in future Army ground vehicles for reconnaissance, surveillance and other high-risk missions.