Swedish electric and autonomous truck startup Einride has announced its plan to go public. The company will merge with a special purpose acquisition company called Legato Merger Corp. This merger values Einride at one point eight billion dollars in pre-money equity.
The transaction is expected to generate approximately two hundred nineteen million dollars in gross proceeds. This figure does not account for any potential redemption of Legato’s public shares. The company is also seeking up to one hundred million dollars in private investment in public equity capital.
The merger is anticipated to be finalized in the first half of 2026. Upon completion, Einride will make its debut on the New York Stock Exchange.
Einride was founded in 2016 with the goal of transforming the freight industry. The company first focused on electric trucks and then developed autonomous electric pods. These pod-like vehicles are designed for self-driving and lack a steering wheel or pedals.
Earlier this year, Einride hired Roozbeh Charli as its new chief executive officer. The company has been working to scale three main business lines. These are electric big rigs, autonomous pods that navigate fixed routes, and planning software created for shippers.
The company has expanded its operations beyond Sweden. It currently operates a fleet of two hundred heavy-duty electric trucks across Europe, North America, and the UAE. Its clients include major companies like Heineken, PepsiCo, Carlsberg Sweden, and DP World. Einride has also made progress with its autonomous pods, securing customers such as Apotea in Sweden and GE Appliances in the United States.
Einride also maintains a United States headquarters in Austin, Texas. The company revealed that its current annual recurring revenue run rate is approximately forty-five million dollars. It also has a total contracted base of sixty-five million dollars in annual recurring revenue from signed customer contracts.
Just six weeks prior to this announcement, Einride raised one hundred million dollars from investors. At that time, CEO Roozbeh Charli stated the funds were intended to help the company scale with its customer base and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous freight technology.
Einride previously raised five hundred million dollars in 2022 in a Series C round of equity and debt. The equity portion of two hundred million dollars came from backers including Northzone, EQT Ventures, Temasek, Swedish pension fund AMF, Polar Structure, and Norrsken VC. The company also secured three hundred million dollars in debt funding led by Barclays Europe. The one hundred million dollar raise in October included existing investor EQT Ventures and quantum computing company IonQ.
Einride follows other autonomous vehicle companies that have pursued SPAC mergers in recent years to secure funding. Aurora, which operates a commercial self-driving trucks service with a human observer on board, went public via a SPAC merger valued at thirteen billion dollars in 2021. Self-driving trucks startup Kodiak AI also took the SPAC route to the public market earlier this year.