Einride buys Flipturn for $38M to expand US truck charging

Swedish electric trucking company Einride has agreed to acquire EV charging software startup Flipturn in an all-stock deal valued at $38 million. The transaction, expected to close this month, marks the first acquisition for Einride since it debuted on the Nasdaq in June through a merger with a blank-check company.

Flipturn, founded in 2022, employs 17 people and raised $15.5 million in venture capital. The startup built a software platform operating over the Open Charge Point Protocol, the industry standard for communication between chargers and management systems. The technology monitors the health of charging infrastructure and pulls in data on vehicle battery levels, driving history, and routes to optimise charging schedules, while also integrating with on-site solar and energy storage systems.

The purchase is designed to make Einride a vertically integrated provider. By pairing its trucks with in-house charging software, the company aims to offer a seamless package to fleet operators who may be apprehensive about transitioning to electric big rigs. “Acquisition is a decisive step in our U.S. scaling strategy,” Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli said.

While Einride is widely recognised for its unusual-looking cabless autonomous pods, its primary revenue driver is a fleet of 200 heavy-duty electric trucks. It operates these vehicles across Europe, North America, and the United Arab Emirates for major corporate clients including Heineken, PepsiCo, and Carlsberg Sweden. This operational footprint provides a ready market for Flipturn’s charging management tools.

Einride's shift towards managing both hardware and software is already attracting major freight partners. The company recently secured Amazon as a customer, though Amazon is not purchasing the trucks outright. Instead, Einride owns and manages the vehicles using its Saga AI software, making them available to drivers in Amazon’s Relay freight network, an app launched in 2017 for booking hauling gigs.