The Einride EV cargo truck charging station in Lynnwood, California, was built by Voltera and is located near the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
einride
Einride, a self-driving electric cargo trucking company, plans to go public on the New York Stock Exchange through a SPAC deal with blank check company Legato Merger Corp. III, valued at $1.8 billion.
The transaction is expected to raise gross proceeds of $219 million and add up to $100 million in PIPE capital from institutional investors, and Einride expects to begin trading in the first half of 2026.
In announcing its plans, the Stockholm, Sweden-based company reported a deal with an annual recurring revenue base of $65 million and potential long-term ARR of more than $800 million.
Founded in 2016, Einride has more than 25 customers in seven countries and has regulatory clearance in the US and Europe. About 200 electric vehicles are currently in use by customers including GE Appliances and Swedish online pharmacy company Apotea.
“Today is a defining moment for Einride and for the future of cargo technology,” he said.
Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli said in a release. “We have proven our technology, built trust with customers around the world, and shown that autonomous and electric driving is not only possible, but better,” said Charli, who took over the CEO role from co-founder and former CEO Robert Falk last May. “This transaction allows us to accelerate our global expansion and continue to serve our customers quickly and accurately.”
Einride has been named to CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list for three consecutive years, ranking #24 in 2025.
Freight trucking in the U.S. and the rest of the world is estimated by Einride to be a $4.6 trillion market, but it is carbon-intensive and inefficient. Einride’s technology is designed to reduce emissions at scale and prove that electric freight is technically and economically viable.
PepsiCo is one of the companies that has piloted the use of Einride cargo solutions in markets including the United States, Germany and Memphis, Tennessee. Heineken has added EV cargo routes between the Netherlands and Germany and to Austria in 2024. Together with Mars, Einride also plans to deploy 300 electric trucks across Europe by 2030.
Swedish electric car maker Einride supplies heavy-duty trucks to PepsiCo’s Walkers snack brand in the UK
einride
To date, Einride offers freight services for both driver-operated electric trucks and large autonomous EV trucks. The company’s technology can be licensed to third parties, both as trip planning AI software and self-driving systems.
Last May, Einride signed a deal with DP World to deploy the Middle East’s largest self-driving EV fleet in the UAE’s main port Jebel Ali, one of the world’s largest shipping hubs.
Many of the deals to date have involved EVs rather than self-driving technology, but the U.S. has entered the year of self-driving in 2024 with GE Appliances and launched Automated Freight, Europe’s first daily automated freight transport, with Swedish online pharmacy company Apotea.
The United States is the company’s second-largest market, and it plans to continue investing in the country to accelerate the deployment of autonomous driving systems. Einride reports more than 1,700 hours of unmanned driving, more than 11 million miles driven, and more than 350,000 shipments in its contracted customer operations.
“This transaction with Einride is consistent with our vision to bring innovative, industry-leading technologies to the general market,” Eric Rosenfeld, Legato’s SPAC chief executive, said in a release. “Einride’s proven customer relationships, regulatory track record and technology platform position us as a leader in transforming the freight industry.”
The company competes with self-driving trucking companies like Aurora Innovation and fellow disruptor Wabi, which recently hired Lior Long, CEO and founder of Uber Freight, as its chief operating officer.
According to data from Matthew Kennedy, senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, which provides pre-IPO research and analysis. IPO focused ETFLegato Merger III raised $175 million in its February 2024 IPO ($201 million including transaction overallotments). Management’s two previous SPACs produced Canada-based steel producer Algoma Steel, which completed its merger with Legato I in October 2021, and engineering and construction company Southland Holdings, which completed its merger with Legato II in February 2023. Both stocks are currently trading below $10. “While this is not unusual for exiting SPACs, it does highlight the general risks of sustaining mergers as we have seen,” Kennedy said.
The SPAC market has been booming this year, collecting nearly 200% more revenue than the same period last year, according to data from Renaissance Capital. In terms of deal flow and revenue, this year was the third-biggest year on record for SPACs, behind 2020 and 2021, and Kennedy cited the acceleration of retail deals among tech companies as “the command center for SPAC merger activity.”
Transportation technologies such as autonomous driving and electrification are a particular focus of SPAC mergers. Kennedy pointed out that SPACs in this space have a mixed track record. Recent winners include Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Aircraft Company joby aviation EV battery technology company quantum scape. However, EV trucking companies Nikola and Volta, as well as several EV companies focused on the consumer car market (VinFast, Faraday Future, Polestar, clear And a canoe.
Another trucking-focused SPAC deal is underway with Plus.AI. Churchill Capital Corporation IX.
Sign up for our original weekly newsletter that goes beyond our annual Disruptor 50 list. Learn more about the list-making companies and their innovative founders.
