Proterra, a US company that specialises in battery-electric buses, has raised US$23m in a Series B funding round from investors to focus on delivering its EcoRide bus to new customers in the US and to expand into new markets.
Based in Greenville, South Carolina, Proterra has been around since 2004 and makes electric buses and fast-charging systems. Its electric fast-charge bus known as the EcoRide has a range of 64 kilometres (40 miles) and can be fast-charged in less than 10 minutes.
The company said orders for the EcoRide bus from public transit agencies have tripled in the past 12 months.
The US$23m financing round in Proterra has been led by Hennessey Capital, which was joined by outside investor NMT Capital, as well as existing investors, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GM Ventures, Mitsui & Co. Global Investment, Inc., 88 Green Ventures and Vision Ridge Partners.
It’s the second investment that GM’s venture capital arm has made in Proterra. In 2011, GM Ventures placed a US$6m investment in Proterra, as part of a $30m funding round raised by the company at the time.
