US$42m funding allows SEA Electric expansion

Following substantial growth in new markets, global automotive technology company SEA Electric Holdings Pty Ltd – which has a New Zealand facility – has announced it has closed initial private placement equity financing for about US$42 million. 

The net proceeds from the investment will allow SEA Electric to solidify its position as a market leader in the electrification of commercial vehicles whilst funding its considerable backlog and facilitating more pilot programs with operators.

Los Angeles headquartered SEA Electric currently has operations in five countries and more than 1.6 million kilometres of independent OEM testing and in-service operation in all markets.

“We are very pleased to have completed a heavily oversubscribed equity financing and are excited to welcome aboard a global set of institutional investors as partners,” SEA Electric president and founder Tony Fairweather says.

“The financing allows SEA Electric to accelerate our sales efforts and grow our backlog as we explore options to seek a public listing in the United States this year.”

SEA Electric currently partners with commercial vehicle OEMs, dealers, operators and upfitters to deliver a new range of zero-emissions trucks and is on schedule to deliver more than 1000 electric commercial vehicles this year. 

The company forecast is to have more than 15,000 vehicles on the road by the end of 2023.

“This year will see a paradigm shift in the way developed markets facilitate uptake of commercial electric vehicles and the unstoppable momentum will build year-after-year,” Fairweather says.

“We are also very excited to welcome (Canadian clean technology company) Exro Technologies as a strategic partner and shareholder of SEA Electric. We look forward to expanding our partnership with Exro and helping to optimise the utilisation of batteries in a second-life application.”

Fairweather says the collaboration with Exro will focus on utilising electric truck batteries for energy storage applications and they will co-develop Exro’s Battery Control System (BCS) for operational validation and take the next step toward leadership in power electronics for mobility and energy management.

Pursuant to the financing, SEA Electric issued about 1.1 million Series A Preferred Shares at a price of US$40.1995 per share, convertible into common shares of SEA Electric at the option of subscribers and automatically convert to common shares under certain conditions, including SEA Electric completing a public transaction.

SEA Electric was founded in Australia in 2012, opening a Melbourne factory in September 2018, a New Zealand facility in March 2019 and a California facility in January 2020.

It will launch its first SEA Hino Australian SKD assembled EV truck, the SEA Hino 300, at the Brisbane Truck Show in May.