LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Xos Trucks, Inc., a leading manufacturer of fully electric commercial vehicles, today announced it has raised $20 million from a group of investors including Proeza Ventures, a mobility-focused VC firm backed by Metalsa’s holding company, and BUILD Capital Group.
The financing, which closed in early 2020, will be used to grow operations and further scale production of the X-Platform currently used by customers Loomis and UPS, among others.“We’re excited to continue growing our operations to provide best-in-class last-mile electric vehicles for our customers,” said Dakota Semler, co-founder and CEO of Xos Trucks. “It’s our goal to provide reliable, affordable, and sustainable transportation as the volume of e-commerce demands are increasing, and have accelerated during the pandemic.”Joining Xos’ board includes Rodolfo Elias Dieck of Proeza Ventures, focused exclusively on funding high-growth mobility startups, and Mark Lampert of BUILD Capital Group and former Daimler executive. Xos has also made several key hires: Kingsley Afemikhe as its CFO and Rob Ferber, employee number one and science director at Tesla, as CTO. “We’ve been impressed with what the Xos team has been able to achieve in such a short amount of time and with limited funding. Not only have they been able to assemble a high caliber team, but they have designed and engineered a proprietary, reliable and affordable battery pack and skateboard solution for commercial fleets,” said Rodolfo Elias Dieck, Managing Director at Proeza Ventures. “We’re thrilled to back an experienced, technical, and mission-driven team that is one of the few with vehicles on the roads in customers’ hands, a strong pipeline of customers and an exciting slate of new vehicles in the works.”“As orders continue to come in on a monthly basis, we are excited to meet the overwhelming demand for both our medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks,” said Xos Trucks co-founder and COO Giordano Sordoni. “This investment is critical to our team’s growth so we can scale to meet that demand.”As part of the investment, Metalsa has assisted Xos in the design of the X-Platform and is providing components to the chassis. Xos vehicles have also been in use for delivery on UPS customer routes in the Los Angeles area for the past eight months.California adopted a landmark rule requiring more than half of all commercial trucks sold in the state to be zero-emissions by 2035, and all trucks by 2045 — further validating the market opportunity for Xos Trucks.About Xos Trucks
Los Angeles-based Xos Trucks is an electric mobility company dedicated to making fleets more efficient. Xos builds state-of-the-art electric trucks and develops cutting-edge technologies and mobility solutions that exceed anything on the present market. Xos’ first product was a fully-electric semi called the ET-One. Other recent customers deploying Xos class 6 vehicles include UPS and cash-in-transit company Loomis. For more information, please visit www.xostrucks.com. About Proeza Ventures
Based in Monterrey, Mexico, and Houston, Texas, Proeza Ventures is a venture capital firm investing exclusively in the mobility space. P.V. is looking to partner with ambitious and visionary founders transforming the way in which we think about mobility pushing for more efficient, safety-focused and environmentally friendly solutions. P.V. is backed by the Proeza Group, a portfolio management company which also owns Metalsa. P.V. invests in industrial tech, smart components, new vehicles, MaaS and digital data services. For more information please visit www.proezaventures.com and follow @proezaventures.About Metalsa
METALSA, a global Mexican company with more than 60 years of experience in the automotive industry, manufactures safe and sustainable mobility structures for people around the world, seeking to minimize the environmental impact through the innovation of its processes and products. Currently, Metalsa supplies the global market with manufacturing plants, offices and technology centers worldwide in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, India, Japan, Mexico, Thailand, and the USA. It also offers Just in Time services in sequencing centers located in strategic areas close to its customers. With this international presence, Metalsa can effectively fulfill and carry out global customer strategies locally. For additional information, visit http://www.metalsa.com. Media Contact
press@xostrucks.com
Go to Source