Sweden-based electric transport technology developer Einride has secured $25m in a series A round that included Ericsson Ventures, the corporate venture capital vehicle for telecommunications equipment producer Ericsson.
The round was co-led by VC funds EQT Ventures and NordicNinja VC, the latter of which is backed by corporates Omron, Panasonic and Honda, and it included Norrsken Foundation, Plum Alley Investments and Plug and Play Ventures.
Einride’s offering combines an artificial intelligence-equipped shipping platform with electric-powered pod vehicles with autonomous driving capabilities.
The system is intended to help ensure logistics functions are fulfilled in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly fashion, with the software making fulfilment more efficient and the pods capable of carrying pallets of heavy goods across short distances.
Robert Falck, Einride’s founder and chief executive, said: “Our 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 US, deliver on our technology road map and to meet rapidly increasing customer demand.”
The company raised approximately $700,000 from employees and friends in June 2017 before Marlin Equity Partners invested an undisclosed sum that included secondary share purchases.
Einride received $4m in funding from unnamed investors in a July 2018 round that reportedly took its total funding to approximately $7.3m. It secured an extra $120,000 when it took part in an accelerator run by retail chains Target and Metro in May this year.
Photo courtesy of Einride.
