Harbinger raises $160M, will build trucks for FedEx | TechCrunch

Los Angeles-based electric truck startup Harbinger has raised $160 million in a Series C funding round co-led by FedEx, as it scales up production of its commercial vehicle program.

As part of the investment, FedEx has ordered 53 of Harbinger’s electric truck chassis, which the startup says will be ready by the end of this year.

Founded in 2022 by former employees of now-defunct EV startup Canoo and battery company QuantumScape, Harbinger set out to build medium-duty, commercial truck chassis — and basically nothing else. That focus on keeping things simple helped the company raise a $100 million Series B in January and start production of its truck chassis this year, just three years after its inception.

FedEx is Harbinger’s most recognizable customer to date, though the startup has spent the last few years also working with RV-builder THOR Industries. THOR co-led this Series C round with FedEx, as did the Technology Impact Fund at Capricorn, which was an early Tesla investor.

Previous investors in Harbinger, like Leitmotif (a new VC firm backed by Volkswagen), Tiger Global, Maniv Mobility, and Schematic Ventures participated in the round as well.

FedEx has spent a decade looking to add electric trucks to its nationwide delivery fleet. In 2018, the logistics giant took a gamble on another Los Angeles-based startup called Chanje, placing an order for 1,000 of its imported Chinese delivery vans in a deal that ultimately ended in a lawsuit. (Chanje collapsed soon after.)

The market for commercial electric trucks and vans has matured since then, though the field still doesn’t have many players. General Motors recently gave up its BrightDrop delivery van program after a few lackluster years. Sales of Ford’s E-Transit van have plummeted. Rivian has supplied around 25,000 electric vans to Amazon, but is yet to lock down another major commercial customer.

Harbinger is focused on trucks that are larger than the BrightDrop, Ford or Rivian vans, and it has found early success in that part of the market. It has sold over 200 chassis this year alone, and recently announced an expansion into the Canadian market.

“FedEx’s participation signals a demand for innovation in the medium-duty truck sector and for an electric model that helps advance business and sustainability goals at the same time,” Dipender Saluja, the managing partner of Capricorn Investment Group’s Technology Impact Fund, said in a statement. “Over the last two decades, medium-duty truck fleets have generally deployed small volumes of demonstration electric trucks. The industry is now ready to move to mass adoption, with Harbinger leading that scale up.”