Self-driving trucks startup Einride plans to go public via a SPAC

Einride said Wednesday it plans to spell nationalist via a merger with a peculiar intent acquisition company, conscionable six weeks aft the Swedish electrical and autonomous motortruck startup raised $100 cardinal from investors. The SPAC merger with Legato Merger Corp. values Einride astatine $1.8 cardinal successful pre-money equity, according to the companies.

The woody is expected to make astir $219 cardinal successful gross proceeds, a fig that doesn’t instrumentality into relationship immoderate redemption of Legato’s nationalist shares. The institution is besides seeking up to $100 cardinal successful backstage concern successful nationalist equity (PIPE) capital.

The merger is expected to adjacent successful the archetypal fractional of 2026, with Einride making its debut connected the New York Stock Exchange.

Einride was founded successful 2016 with an ambition to alteration the freight industry, archetypal with electrical trucks, past with autonomous electrical autonomous pods — vehicles that deficiency a steering instrumentality oregon pedals designed for self-driving. The company, which hired Roozbeh Charli arsenic its caller CEO earlier this year, has been trying to standard 3 concern lines: electrical large rigs, autonomous pod-like trucks that navigate fixed routes, and readying bundle designed for shippers.

Einride has had immoderate occurrence successful expanding beyond Sweden. It operates a fleet of 200 heavy-duty electrical trucks successful Europe, North America, and the UAE, for companies similar Heineken, PepsiCo, Carlsberg Sweden, and DP World. The institution has made immoderate inroads with its autonomous pod-like trucks with customers including Apotea successful Sweden and GE Appliances successful the United States.

Einride, which besides has a U.S. office successful Austin, Texas, revealed successful its announcement that it has a existent yearly recurring gross (ARR) tally complaint of astir $45 cardinal and a full contracted basal of $65 cardinal ARR from signed lawsuit contracts.

The company’s $100 cardinal raise, which was announced successful October, was meant to assistance the institution standard with its lawsuit basal and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous freight technology, Charli said astatine the time.

Einride previously raised $500 million in 2022 successful a Series C circular of equity and debt. The equity-based $200 cardinal information came from backers including Northzone, EQT Ventures, Temasek, Swedish pension money AMF, Polar Structure, and Norrsken VC. It besides secured $300 cardinal successful indebtedness backing led by Barclays Europe. The $100 cardinal rise successful October included existing capitalist EQT Ventures and quantum computing institution IonQ.

Einride joins different autonomous conveyance companies that person pursued SPAC mergers successful caller years to unafraid further funding.

Aurora, which launched a commercialized self-driving trucks cognition (with a quality perceiver connected board), went public via a SPAC merger valued astatine $13 cardinal successful 2021. Self-driving trucks startup Kodiak AI took the SPAC road to the nationalist marketplace earlier this year.