Swedish electric vehicle startup, Volta secures $260M in a series c round

Volta Trucks, a Swedish electric vehicle startup that believes it can build better urban delivery vehicles and other trucks that are safer and have a lower carbon footprint than their gas-guzzling, more clumsy, existing counterparts, has closed a large round of funding to help it get through the final mile of development before its Volta Zero trucks go into commercial production later this year.

The company has raised $260 million in a Series C round of funding, valuing the company at slightly more than $490 million.

Volta will use the funds to fund engineering and business operations before its first trucks roll off the assembly line, thanks to a healthy list of customers:

Volta announced that the pre-order book for its all-electric Volta Zero — billed as the first fully electric, purpose-built commercial freight vehicle designed for urban freight distribution — has surpassed €1.2 billion, covering more than 5,000 vehicles.

Volta’s overall business strategy will include both the sale of trucks and the provision of its vehicles via a trucking-as-a-service model.

Luxor Capital, based in New York, is also leading this round, having led the company’s €37 million Series B in September 2021.

Real estate investment firm Byggmästare Anders J Ahlström (based in Stockholm, like Volta), supply chain services behemoth Agility, and B-FLEXION (formerly Waypoint Capital) also took part.

While Volta has not disclosed its valuation, Pitchbook data indicates that it is now slightly more than $490 million — a figure we have now confirmed with sources close to the company.

Volta’s expansion and the large amount of capital it has now raised — over $325 million to date — are part of a larger shift in the automotive industry.

Startups that are capitalizing on new manufacturing techniques, battery technology, and energy infrastructure see a golden opportunity to build new vehicles that will disrupt the status quo with safer and cleaner alternatives.