Electric bus manufacturer Proterra raised 200 million US dollars and received investment from General Motors and BMW.

SMM: local time on Oct. 15, heavy-duty electric vehicle battery system technology developer Proterra said that it has raised 200 million US dollars in the latest round of financing. The round was led by Cowen Sustainable Investment Advisors, with American private investment management firm Soros Fund Management firm (Soros Fund Management), Generation Investment Management and Broadscale Group participating. Cowen invested a total of $150 million, accounting for most of the round, while Soros, Generation and Broadscale invested another $50 million. In addition, Bank of America lin (BofA Securities), the corporate and investment banking unit of Bank of America, is the exclusive financing agent in this financing.

The previous year, there had been speculation that the battery system developer might launch a public offering of (IPO). In August 2019, investors said Proterra was valued at $1 billion and might have been looking for an IPO.

Proterra said the newly raised funds would be used to support the company's ongoing research and development of battery and electric transmission technology and to support its business development, thereby increasing its influence in commercial vehicles. In addition, the company is focusing on developing charging and energy management technologies to reduce the management costs of operating electric fleets.

To date, Proterra has raised about $1 billion in equity and bonds. Its investors include G2VP, US venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Constellation Ventures, Mitsui & Co, BMW's venture capital divisions BMW i Ventures, Edison Energy, (the Federal Transportation Administration), GM's venture capital division and Tao Capital Partners.

Proterra mainly produces buses with a range of up to 350 miles for local, state and federal agencies. Headquartered in Burlingame, California, the company has a number of former Tesla employees in leadership positions, including former CEO Ryan Popple. In addition, the company is very diversified and supplies powertrain to other heavy and medium commercial electric vehicle manufacturers.

Proterra also said in a statement that it was working with US bus maker Thomas Built Buses, Belgian commercial vehicle maker (Van Hool), Australian bus maker BusTech and Optimal-EV to bring pure electric vehicles powered by its technology to market.