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It ’s not an easy sentence to raise money for an galvanizing vehicle startup , especially given how many have go or are close to give out . But Los Angeles - basedHarbingerhas pulled it off by taking a hyper - focused approach to electrifying commercial-grade truckage .
The reward is a $ 100 million Series B , co - moderate by former Tesla investor Capricorn Investment Group and Leitmotif , a new U.S. fund co - ground by the former M&A head for Volkswagen . Also joining the troll were Tiger Global andmobility speculation firm Maniv , both of which were live investors .
“ We know how the EV space has gone . We acknowledge that it ’s just litter with bodies from the decade past , ” Harbinger CEO John Harris told TechCrunch in an interview . “ So we really , really endeavor to keep our reach very focused and have very high confidence in what we say we ’re last to do before we say we ’re going to do it . ”
found in 2022 bya radical of former Canoo and QuantumScape employee , Harbinger set up out to make a modular all - electrical chassis for medium - responsibility trucks .
Then it … did that , and only that .
Harbinger maintained its focus at a time when investor threw billions of dollars at startups that claimed they ’d make hundreds of K of electron volt , or reshape DoT as we know it . Arrival , for instance , start out in a similar sphere as Harbinger . But as it went public , Arrival claimed it would reinvent vehicle manufacturing withso - call microfactories , planned to make buses , developed a drive - hail railway car with Uber , and waspotentially even work on an aircraft .
Arrival is now bankrupt . Harbinger , meanwhile , has close a Series B and is on the sceptre of entering production .
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“ Harbinger is just this awe-inspiring team of very veteran operators , with form of a lot of scar tissue and relevant experience from their previous roles , ” Leitmotif co - founder Jens Wiese , the former VW exec , enjoin in an consultation . “ They ’re just optical maser - focused on this segment and getting the product right . ”
Harris said focus on one product has not only allowed his startup to survive , it ’s aid make the product better .
As an example , Harris pointed to the battery large number that power Harbinger ’s physical body . Instead of package them in stamped steel , which needs to be welded together — and can lead to leak that harm the battery — Harbinger invested in a 6,500 - long ton press that uses high-pitched pressure level to kick the bucket be sick the entire enclosure .
Harris said Harbinger was only able to place in such a specialized dick because it did n’t have to spread its spending across multiple other products . The result : barrage fire ingroup enclosures that are just one - twentieth of the normal price .
Investments like this have allowed Harbinger to make its chassis more low-cost from the outset , instead of relying on massive scale to get to attractive social unit economic science .
And since Harbinger is essentially selling to CFOs of fleet companies , Maniv managing mate Michael Granoff said that ’s a tantalizing proposition .
“ The section they ’re going after , they do n’t replace their fleets that often , and when they ’re mean about it , they ’re doing it for a figure of years — and the math get so compelling that it ’s just unavoidable , ” Granoff said .
Granoff so soundly believes in Harbinger ’s opportunity that his firm has invested more in the startup than any other company . Harbinger ’s Series B is also the only investiture round Maniv ’s 2d fund has joined that the firm did n’t direct .
“ We ’ve basically render compelling building block economics already , and that ’s why people get along in who normally would n’t be in this space , [ investor ] like Tiger , ” Harris say . “ We have industry - leading building block economics , if you disregard Tesla , but I anticipate us to have effective margins than them , probably in another 12 to 18 calendar month . ”
