Einride, the Swedish maker of autonomous electric freight trucks, posted a 74% intraday gain on its first day of Nasdaq trading.

The stock, trading under the ticker ENRD, began its public life on June 10 after completing a merger with SPAC Legato Merger Corp. III. The company’s pre-deal equity valuation sat at roughly $1.35 billion.

How Einride got here

The path to Nasdaq ran through a blank-check company. Einride merged with Legato Merger Corp. III after clearing regulatory approvals and securing a favorable shareholder vote. The deal also included a $113 million oversubscribed PIPE, which is Wall Street shorthand for a private investment in public equity, essentially institutional investors putting money into the company alongside the public listing.

Founded in 2016 in Stockholm by Robert Falck, Filip Lilja, and Linnéa Kornehed, Einride became the first company to operate an autonomous electric vehicle on a public road back in 2019. Then in 2022, it secured US public-road approval for its autonomous trucks, another industry milestone.

The company raised $500 million in a 2022 funding round, and its backers include EQT Ventures. To celebrate the listing, the company rang the Nasdaq Opening Bell.

The business behind the buzz

Einride has assembled a platform that combines autonomous electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, and AI-driven logistics solutions. That platform is now operational across three major regions: North America, Europe, and the Middle East.

Einride operates one of the larger heavy-duty electric fleets serving Fortune 500 companies. Its most notable partnership is with Amazon, which recently expanded its commitment to include the deployment of an additional 75 electric trucks in the US.

What this means for investors

The $1.35 billion pre-deal valuation places Einride in a growing but still relatively uncrowded public market for autonomous trucking pure plays. The autonomous vehicle sector has seen its share of disappointments, with companies like Embark shutting down and TuSimple stumbling through controversies.

The $113 million oversubscribed PIPE is another data point worth noting. When institutional investors fight for allocation in a private placement alongside a public listing, it generally reflects conviction rather than speculation.

Warrants trading under ENRDW add another layer of complexity, as warrant dilution can weigh on share prices once the initial excitement fades.