Los Angeles is known for its glitz, but it also has a lot of grit, literally. Thousands of containers move in and out of ships every day at the region's two main ports, most often transported in polluting diesel trucks. This makes Los Angeles a hotbed for all kinds of new electric vehicle and charging infrastructure projects.
A startup called Nevoya is jumping on the opportunity.
“This is the best place in the country” for electric trucks, founder Sami Khan told TechCrunch in a recent interview. “The incentives are the strongest,” he said, “and there's just a huge market here.”
Nevoya already appears to be making some progress. The startup, which uses electric trucks to transport goods for Fortune 500 companies in the Los Angeles area, declined to be identified publicly. Nevoya also revealed to TechCrunch that it has raised $3 million in a seed round led by Third Sphere and RedBlue Capital, with participation from Necessary Ventures, Ciri Ventures, and Never Lift.
Nevoya touts itself as the “first zero-emissions technology and trucking platform” in the United States. The startup is exclusively purchasing electric trucks, all Freightliner eCascadia so far, to serve shippers who want to move their goods cleanly. The company also uses artificial intelligence software to optimize truck usage, routes and charging, which Neboya says helps keep prices lower than diesel.
Khan and his co-founders form a triumvirate of complementary expertise that would be well-suited for such an endeavor. Khan spent several years at McLaren Applied, the British carmaker's innovation arm, and also spent five years in private equity. John Verdon led business development and commercial partnerships at Waymo. Tom Atwood also built a predictive analytics startup and sold it to supply chain company Project44. There, he spent the past two years working on route optimization and infrastructure planning software.
The funds will be used to expand the business, but not to acquire more trucks. Khan said these purchases will be made with debt. He says he is comfortable with this strategy, following his experience in private equity. Khan also believes this approach will make Neboya more attractive to investors in an environment where there is still a lot of resistance to hard technology. He said the team “kissed a lot of frogs,” but investors like RedBlue guided them along the way. The company is run by Olaf Sackers, a former founding partner of transportation startup fund Maniv Mobility.
“They were the first people we talked to and within a week we had a term sheet, because they got it and they understood it,” he said. “The size of the pie and the opportunity is very, very large.”
Khan emphasized that it will be difficult to compete with diesel trucks on cost. But that pressure was alleviated by how easy it was to start conversations with companies that ship products through the Los Angeles area.
“All of these Fortune 500 brands are trying to reduce their Scope 3 (indirect emissions) emissions, but there is virtually no solution,” he said. Regarding Nevoya, Khan promises these companies: I have a driver. we have a truck. ”
While Neboya is still working to achieve cost parity with diesel, Khan said these major companies are largely unconcerned. “They want to decarbonize so much that they are willing to pay a premium. [customers]In fact, we're out at higher speeds than diesel. ”
“What's really interesting about building this business is that any shipper in the United States can come through the door,” Khan said. “We've never had a failure there. As soon as you say you have an electric car, they pick up the phone. They escalate.”
As it signs up more companies, Nevoya's software will be able to efficiently piggyback loads from different customers to get the most out of its electric trucks. It helps reduce costs.
Kahn said Nevoya is currently flying around to different charging locations, which is also where the optimization software should really shine, but that eventually it wants to build its own charging infrastructure. It is said that there is. At that point, Khan said he could see Nevoya getting into a light-duty truck.
Neboya is also eyeing geographic expansion in the United States. The company is starting its push in markets largely different from its home base in Texas.
Despite the myriad social and political differences, Kahn believes Texas is a good state for business as well. While it may not have the big-money incentive of California, Mr. Khan said Texas is a good place to operate in Mr. Nevoya's home state, thanks to Texas' looser regulatory framework and cheaper power. He said it was on par with the financial modeling the team had done.