Electric four-wheel drive manufacturer Munro Vehicles is in the process of raising around £5m, including backing from venture capital firm Elbow Beach Capital, UKTN can reveal.
Elbow Beach Capital is doubling down on the £750,000 pre-seed capital it invested in the Glasgow-based EV maker in 2022.
The Scottish EV startup is manufacturing rugged 4×4 jeeps for commercial uses such as farming. It aims to reach the goal of producing 2,500 – 2,750 vehicles by 2027.
“Munro Vehicles was one of Elbow Beach Capital’s first investments and we are very excited about the traction they are building with customers and their continued product development,” said Nick Charman, co-founder and chairman of Elbow Beach Capital.
UKTN discovered the raise after spotting Charman had updated his job role to Munro Vehicles’ non-executive director on his LinkedIn profile.
“We were delighted to increase our commitment to Munro as part of their current funding round and I look forward to working with Russ and the team in my new capacity as a director,” said Charman, confirming the raise.
The funding round will consist of equity, crowdfunding and potentially some debt.
Proceeds from Elbow Beach Capital and other investors will go towards the commercial production of its MK_1 vehicle, launched in December.
“Elbow Beach Capital are fantastic,” said Russell Peterson, CEO and co-founder of Munro Vehicles told UKTN, “but they don’t have the answers to everything and nor do we”.
“We think that diversifying the shareholder pool just means that we’ll get some different viewpoints.”
An upcoming public crowdfund in the coming weeks, via Seedrs, is targeting approximately £1.5m. Munro Vehicles is aiming to get some “everyday investors” instead of solely VCs, said Peterson.
SSE, Scottish Water, Edinburgh Airport, RSK, Morgan Sindall, Canal & River Trust are listed by the company to have expressed interest in its vehicles on the crowdfunding page.
Its MK_1 began climbing off the production line at the start of the year with the first deliveries hoped to commence in Q4.
Peterson hinted that conversations are underway with a few different venture capital firms including one based in Scotland.
“We’ve made our raise quite hard,” said Munro’s chief executive, due to being a hardware company and wanting to give “first priority” to Scottish VC firms.
Munro Vehicles is hoping to close its crowdfund by September and the wider round before the end of 2023.
Peterson said the injection of funds will go towards a Munro factory, as it will eventually outgrow its Glasgow facility. The EV maker will also expand its team from 10 to 25 before next year.