Harbinger raises $160M, will build trucks for FedEx

Los Angeles-based electrical motortruck startup Harbinger has raised $160 cardinal successful a Series C backing circular co-led by FedEx, arsenic it scales up accumulation of its commercialized conveyance program.

As portion of the investment, FedEx has ordered 53 of Harbinger’s electrical motortruck chassis, which the startup says volition beryllium acceptable by the extremity of this year.

Founded successful 2022 by erstwhile employees of now-defunct EV startup Canoo and artillery institution QuantumScape, Harbinger acceptable retired to physique medium-duty, commercialized motortruck chassis — and fundamentally thing else. That absorption on keeping things simple helped the institution rise a $100 cardinal Series B successful January and commencement accumulation of its motortruck chassis this year, conscionable 3 years aft its inception.

FedEx is Harbinger’s astir recognizable lawsuit to date, though the startup has spent the past fewer years besides moving with RV-builder THOR Industries. THOR co-led this Series C circular with FedEx, arsenic did the Technology Impact Fund astatine Capricorn, which was an aboriginal Tesla investor.

Previous investors successful Harbinger, similar Leitmotif (a caller VC steadfast backed by Volkswagen), Tiger Global, Maniv Mobility, and Schematic Ventures participated successful the circular arsenic well.

FedEx has spent a decennary looking to adhd electrical trucks to its nationwide transportation fleet. In 2018, the logistics elephantine took a gamble connected different Los Angeles-based startup called Chanje, placing an bid for 1,000 of its imported Chinese transportation vans successful a woody that ultimately ended successful a lawsuit. (Chanje collapsed soon after.)

The marketplace for commercialized electrical trucks and vans has matured since then, though the tract inactive doesn’t person galore players. General Motors precocious gave up its BrightDrop transportation van programme aft a fewer lackluster years. Sales of Ford’s E-Transit van person plummeted. Rivian has supplied astir 25,000 electrical vans to Amazon, but is yet to fastener down different large commercialized customer.

Harbinger is focused connected trucks that are larger than the BrightDrop, Ford oregon Rivian vans, and it has recovered aboriginal occurrence successful that portion of the market. It has sold implicit 200 chassis this twelvemonth alone, and precocious announced an enlargement into the Canadian market.

“FedEx’s information signals a request for innovation successful the medium-duty motortruck assemblage and for an electrical exemplary that helps beforehand concern and sustainability goals astatine the aforesaid time,” Dipender Saluja, the managing spouse of Capricorn Investment Group’s Technology Impact Fund, said successful a statement. “Over the past 2 decades, medium-duty motortruck fleets person mostly deployed tiny volumes of objection electrical trucks. The manufacture is present acceptable to determination to wide adoption, with Harbinger starring that standard up.”