TELO Announces $5.4M Strategic Fundraise Led by Neo to Continue Building the Most Efficient Electric Truck
Coinciding with this funding news, the company appointed to its board Tesla Co-Founder, Marc Tarpenning.
SAN CARLOS, Calif., March 13, 2024--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TELO, the company redefining the footprint and functionality of electric mobility with its innovative EV mini-truck, today announced its $5.4M strategic funding round led by Neo, with additional investment from Spero Ventures and angel investors. The closing of this strategic raise signifies TELO’s continued business growth.
Coinciding with this announcement, TELO is pleased to appoint Marc Tarpenning, co-founder of Tesla, to the company's board this month. Tarpenning’s board appointment is an incredibly exciting moment in TELO’s growth story as he will help guide the team in their final stages of TELO’s development. Also, as a Spero Ventures partner, Tarpenning participated in the just announced strategic funding round. This infusion of funds will be used to continue the virtual validation of the vehicle's safety and also the development of a road-ready model.
"Small is the new big, even in pickup trucks," said Ali Partovi, CEO of Neo. "I love backing founders like Jason and Forrest who have the vision to turn a massive industry on its head."
This follows a $1.78M pre-seed funding round announced at launch in June 2023, which was led by GoAhead Ventures, with additional investment from Underdog Labs, WorkPlay Ventures and Yves Béhar (Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer) in addition to some angel investors.
"Closing this fundraising round has further validated our prediction of where the EV industry is headed," said Jason Marks, Co-Founder and CEO of TELO. "We’re being extremely strategic with our investments and we’re grateful that Ali, Marc and our additional investors align with our unique approach in the industry. With their support and funding we’re even more excited and confident about the next phase for building the TELO Truck."
With over 2,500 pre-orders secured, TELO is representative of a different era of EV companies and is the most cost-effective company on the market. A mini-truck with purpose, the TELO Truck has redesigned what an electric truck looks like by taking advantage of the best in electric and autonomous tech, using advanced driving and safety technologies. The team has intentionally leveraged its funding to not only build the most size-efficient electric truck, but also offer solutions for drivers in urban environments that are not typically conducive to larger trucks.
In late 2023, the team took the next step in its proof of concept with the development of a drivable chassis. Most recently, the team has continued to progress and finalized the roll cage for the vehicle, an important step in the lead up to a final prototype. Looking ahead, TELO will eventually handbuild the first set of vehicles (approximately 500) to deliver to customers and eventually scale for manufacturing for mass delivery.
For more information about TELO or to pre-order a TELO Truck, please visit telotrucks.com.
About TELO
TELO makes intelligently designed, compact electric vehicle trucks for city living and weekend adventuring. Its signature TELO Truck, launched in 2023, features the standard bed capacity and crew cabin in a dramatically shortened 152-inch vehicle. With over 2,000 pre-orders secured since launch, TELO is representative of a different era of EV companies and is the most cost-effective company on the market. Co-founded by Jason Marks, Forrest North, and Yves Béhar with design input from fuseproject.
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