Harbinger, a Los Angeles-based electric vehicle startup, has raised $100 million in a Series B funding round. The round was co-led by Capricorn Investment Group and Leitmotif, with participation from Tiger Global and mobility venture firm Maniv. Harbinger, which was founded in 2022 by former Canoo and QuantumScape employees, focuses on developing modular all-electric chassis for medium-duty trucks.
Harbinger CEO John Harris commented, “We know how the EV space has gone. We know that it’s just littered with bodies from the decade past. So we really, really try to keep our scope very focused and have very high confidence in what we say we’re going to do before we say we’re going to do it.”
The company has maintained a narrow focus on a single product, the electric chassis, at a time when many other startups have expanded their ambitions into multiple vehicle types. This approach has allowed Harbinger to stay on track while refining its technology. For instance, the company has invested in a 6,500-ton press for die-casting battery pack enclosures, which it claims reduces costs by a factor of 20 compared to traditional methods.
Leitmotif co-founder Jens Wiese, a former Volkswagen executive, highlighted the company’s focused strategy, saying, “Harbinger is just this amazing team of very seasoned operators, with kind of a lot of scar tissue and relevant experience from their previous roles. They’re just laser-focused on this segment and getting the product right.”
The company’s focus on cost-effective solutions has been seen as an advantage in the market for fleet operators. Maniv managing partner Michael Granoff noted, “The segment they’re going after, they don’t replace their fleets that often, and when they’re thinking about it, they’re doing it for a number of years — and the math gets so compelling that it’s just unavoidable.”
