Einride, a Swedish startup that develops and provides freight transport solutions using on electric and autonomous vehicles, today announced around €8.5 million Ericsson Venturesin new funding from existing investors led by impact fund, Norrsken VC. EQT Ventures, Nordic Ninja VC, Ericsson Ventures, and other investors also participated in the round. This new round will be used to fast track the official launch of its Einride Pods and meet the overwhelming demand from existing clients including Oatly, Lidl, and more.
Einride was founded in 2016 by Robert Falck, Linnéa Kornehed and Filip Lilja, and became one of the world’s first companies to operate a truly driverless, autonomous, all-electric freight vehicle on a public road. Recently, the company launched the Einride Mobility Platform, a cloud-native transport execution system for autonomous, electric and traditional road transportation. With the platform, customers can use real-time information and actionable insights to implement sustainable, cost-efficient and high performing transport logistics.
IIn the wake of COVID-19, there has been a shift towards searching for a more efficient, contactless way to achieve the same levels of transport as before. During this time, Einride has maintained a strong stream of new partnerships, including onboarding two major partners, Oatly and Lidl, and launching the mainnet version of its Freight Mobility Platform.
“There is both a lot of excitement and a lot of uncertainty about autonomous trucking, but the fact remains: this is one of the largest business opportunities in the history of mankind,” said Robert Falck CEO of Einride. “We have a unique opportunity to make transport both exponentially safer and more sustainable. It’s something the vast majority of us want, but many are unsure of how to get there and resort to half-measures. We expect to see the autonomous transport industry expand exponentially in the coming years, especially in the wake of a global pandemic.”
In addition to this new funding, Norrsken VC, which was founded by the Klarna co-founder Niklas Adalberth, will be joining Einride’s advisory board. With the additional funding and strategic input, the startup Einride plans to continue leading the transition to an autonomous and sustainable future of freight.
“Eliminating CO2 emissions causing rapid climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. As one of the largest emitters, what the road transport industry does in the coming years will have an enormous impact on reaching sustainability goals. At Norrsken, we have been with Einride since the beginning, and are proud to continue to support this movement towards electric, autonomous transport,” said Niklas Adalberth, co-founder of Klarna and the Norrsken Foundation.
