Autonomous EV freight trucking company Einride is planning to go public on the New York Stock Exchange through a SPAC deal with Legato Merger Corp. III, a blank check company, valuing it at $1.8 billion.

The deal is expected to raise $219 million in gross proceeds, with up to an additional $100 million in PIPE capital from institutional investors, with Einride to begin trading during the first half of 2026.

In announcing its plans, the Stockholm, Sweden-based company reported a contracted annual recurring revenue base of $65 million and over $800 million in potential long-term ARR.

Founded in 2016, Einride has over 25 customers across seven countries, and regulatory permits in the United States and Europe. Its current fleet of approximately 200 electric vehicles is used by customers including GE Appliances and Swedish online pharmacy company Apotea.

“Today marks a defining moment for Einride and for the future of freight technology,” said
Roozbeh Charli, CEO of Einride, in a release. “We’ve proven the technology, built trust with global customers, and shown that autonomous and electric operations are not just possible, but better. This transaction positions us to accelerate our global expansion and continue to deliver with speed and precision for our customers,” said Charli, who took over the CEO post from co-founder and previous CEO Robert Falck last May.

Einride has made the CNBC Disruptor 50 list for three consecutive years, ranking No. 24 in 2025.

Freight trucking in the U.S. and elsewhere, estimated by Einride at a $4.6 trillion market, is both carbon-intensive and inefficient. Einride’s technology is designed to reduce emissions at scale and prove electric freight is viable both technologically and economically.

PepsiCo is among the companies that has been piloted use of Einride freight solutions, in markets including Memphis, Tennessee, and in Germany. Heineken added EV freight routes between the Netherlands and Germany in 2024, and to Austria this year. Einride also has plans to deploy 300 electric trucks across Europe by 2030 with Mars.

To date, Einride provides freight services for both driver-operated electric trucks and heavy-duty autonomous EV trucks. Its technology can be licensed to third parties, both operational planning AI software and its autonomous driving system.

In May of last year, Einride signed a deal with DP World to deploy the largest autonomous EV fleet in the Middle East, at the major UAE port, Jebel Ali, one of the world’s largest shipping points.

While many of its deals to date are for EV and not autonomous technology, in the U.S. it marked a year of autonomous operations with GE Appliances in 2024, and began autonomous freight shipments with Swedish online pharmacy company Apotea, Europe’s first daily autonomous freight trips.

The U.S. is the company’s second-largest market and it plans to continue to invest in the country to accelerate deployment of its autonomous systems. In all, Einride reports over 1,700 driverless hours in contracted customer operations, over 11 million electric miles driven, and over 350,000 executed shipments.

“This transaction with Einride aligns with our vision to bring industry-leading, innovative technology to the public markets,” said Eric Rosenfeld, chief SPAC officer of Legato, in the release. “Einride’s proven customer relationships, regulatory achievements, and technology platform position the Company to be a leader in the transformation of the freight industry.”

It competes with autonomous trucking companies including Aurora Innovation and fellow Disruptor Waabi, which recently hired Uber Freight CEO and founder Lior Ron as its chief operating officer.

According to data from Matthew Kennedy, senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, a provider of pre-IPO research and IPO-focused ETFs, Legato Merger III raised $175 million in its February 2024 IPO ($201 million including a deal overallotment). The management term’s prior two SPACs produced Algoma Steel, a Canada-based steel producer that closed its merger with Legato I in October 2021, and Southland Holdings, an engineering and construction company that completed its merger with Legato II in Feb 2023. Both stocks are currently trading below their $10 transaction price. “This is not unusual for a de-SPAC, but it does highlight the general risk of holding into the merger that we’ve seen,” Kennedy said.

The SPAC market is booming this year, raising nearly 200% more proceeds than this point last year, according to Renaissance Capital data. It is the third-biggest year ever for SPACs, behind 2020 and 2021, measured in deal flow and proceeds, with Kennedy citing an acceleration in retail trading in tech companies, “which are the wheelhouse of SPAC merger activity,” he said.

Transportation technology, in particular, has been a focus for SPAC mergers, including autonomous driving and electrification. Kennedy noted SPACs in the space have mixed track record, with winners including Joby Aviation and Quantumscape, but a significant number of losers including Nikola, Vinfast, Lilium, Vertical Aerospace, Faraday Future, Volta, Polestar, Lucid, Aeye, and Canoo.

There is another trucking-focused SPAC deal underway between Plus.AI and Churchill Capital Corp IX.