ALSO has successfully raised $150 million in a Series D funding round to accelerate the development of its electric mobility platform. The investment round was led by Prysm Capital, with participation from Eclipse, Greenoaks, and MVP Ventures. This brings ALSO's total funding to $350 million.
The capital raised will be directed towards advancing the development of autonomous vehicles. Furthermore, the company plans to improve several autonomous vehicle projects for both passenger and commercial delivery use. ALSO creates micro-electric vehicles using integrated hardware and software.
The company's technology is aimed at meeting mobility needs that are often unmet by traditional cars and vans. The company asserts that more compact vehicles can reduce road congestion and operational costs, as well as potentially decrease emissions in dense urban and suburban areas.
Currently, ALSO offers the TM-B electric bicycle to consumers in the United States. The Launch Edition is already being shipped to customers nationwide, and pre-orders are open for the TM-B Performance and Standard models. The first deliveries of these models are expected to begin this autumn, but the electric bicycle is only part of ALSO's broader strategy.
The company is developing a technological platform for vehicles smaller than standard cars. Its commercial portfolio includes the TM-Q electric delivery quad bike, and future products will utilize the same architecture in autonomous applications. ALSO's vertically integrated platform combines motors, batteries, computing hardware, and software, allowing the company to create various vehicle form factors based on common technology.
This strategy opens up multiple transport markets for ALSO, including consumer mobility, delivery services, and autonomous passenger transport. The new funding will accelerate the autonomous vehicle platform, as the company is simultaneously developing several autonomous form factors for transporting both goods and passengers using the existing EV architecture designed for current products.
ALSO has entered into business agreements with major operators, including Amazon and DoorDash as delivery app partners. Earlier this year, DoorDash made a strategic investment in ALSO, and the companies signed a multi-year agreement to develop autonomous delivery vehicles. ALSO believes that specialized vehicles can improve the economics of short urban trips.
The company's strategy questions the use of large vehicles for relatively small routes, and it expects autonomy in a small form factor to become more common. The long-term goal is to make such vehicles a regular part of the urban transportation system.
The latest funding followed a $200 million Series C round led by Greenoaks. Prysm Capital also participated in this financing. Initially, ALSO was in the incubator of Rivian before becoming an independent company. Rivian founder RJ Scaringe co-founded ALSO and continues to serve as Chairman of the Board.
The company's leadership includes Co-founder and President Chris Yu. Previously, Yu worked on product development in the cycling industry. Now, ALSO is expanding its presence beyond consumer e-bikes, shifting focus to a broader mobile platform with autonomous capabilities.
The company faces a complex micromobility market, as several established e-bike manufacturers have recently faced financial difficulties. However, ALSO believes that these failures indicate product limitations rather than weak consumer demand. The new capital will provide additional resources to test this hypothesis and help advance autonomous technologies across various vehicle categories.