Volta Trucks have announced the successful conclusion of its Series B funding round with €37 million (£31.5 million/$43.5 million) secured in new capital. The funding round was led by Luxor Capital with existing investors extending their investments and strategic partners joining the Volta Trucks journey.
This shows a clear belief in the company’s future success and endorsement of its strategy and potential. Volta Trucks are a leading and disruptive fully-electric commercial vehicle manufacturer and services provider that are in the process of delivering their Volta Zero electric truck. This is the world’s first purpose-built full-electric 16-tonne commercial vehicle designed specifically for inner-city logistics.
As a further sign of confidence, the company’s original seed investor and participant in the Series A round, Byggmästare Anders J Ahlström of Stockholm, added to its investment in Volta Trucks. They were also joined by strategic partners and first-time investor, Proterra, which was selected as the battery supplier for the Volta Zero.
Agility, a leading provider of supply chain services, innovation and investment, also became a first-time investor in Volta Trucks. Agility’s Volta investment is part of its broader strategy of investing in supply chain sustainability and resilience.
Agility is focused on partnerships with companies that are developing cleaner commercial vehicles, mass-transit alternatives, freight market places and digital load-matching platforms. These are all intended to reduce CO2 emissions, congestion and fuel use.
Tarek Sultan, Agility CEO, said: “Volta Trucks and Agility share a vision of a zero-emissions future and a determination to make it happen sooner rather than later.”
In the short term, the positive outcome of the funding round will provide Volta Trucks with the means to accelerate its expansion with the development of Pilot Fleet vehicles. This will be evaluated by customers in London and Paris in mid-2022, in advance of the start of full-scale production by the end of 2022.
Looking ahead, it will also help facilitate the company’s Road-to-Zero Emissions strategy, which sees four Volta Zero models developed and offered in European and US markets, with over 27,000 vehicles expected to be sold by 2025.
After recently signing a manufacturing agreement with Steyr Automotive, Volta Trucks has also confirmed positive updates to its order book following the conclusion of several successful customer engagements.
Pre-orders for the Volta Zero have now swelled to exceed 2,500 vehicles with an order value of over €600 million, which has doubled in the past three months.
Essa Al-Saleh, Volta Trucks CEO, said: “Attracting several first-time investors, plus increased investment from existing partners totalling €37 million, is a strong endorsement of the path we are on and shows that our investors share and support our development and growth strategy.
“To be able to concurrently announce that we now have over 2,500 pre-orders for the full-electric Volta Zero, shows that customers also understand and share our mission to revolutionise and decarbonise city centre logistics, and bring full-electric commercial vehicles to market as soon as possible.”
Sharp McGivaren of Luxor Capital, and Volta Trucks Board Member, added; “Volta’s commercial, engineering, manufacturing, and organisational progress has been nothing short of incredible. The Volta Zero and the benefits it delivers over conventional commercial vehicles are clearly resonating with customers.
“This is demonstrated by its current €600 million order book and the identified pipeline that is several times that size. We are thrilled to increase our commitment to Volta as it continues its path towards production.”