GM-owned startup BrightDrop will hit $1 billion in revenue in 2023
General Motors-owned BrightDrop is in a rapid expansion as some of the world’s largest companies — such as Walmart, Hertz, FedEx and Verizon — have started ordering its electric delivery vehicles and other delivery software products.
BrightDrop informed investors Thursday that it is on track to surpass $1 billion in revenue by 2023. BrightDrop also expects to reach $10 billion in revenue by 2023 and a 20% profit margin by the end. It claims that it is the fastest company ever to surpass the $1 billion mark.
“We’re a tech startup with a subscription-based product offering that’s backed by a global powerhouse — this puts us in a league of our own,” said BrightDrop CEO Travis Katz in a statement. “As we focus not only on electric vans, but also eCarts and software, we’re confident that our full ecosystem of connected products and services will drive significant revenue and growth for years to come.”
Adding to BrightDrop’s coffers is its recent expansion into the online grocery sector, Katz said, where “we can capture substantial market share across multiple industries.”
On Thursday, BrightDrop also said it is hiring to help facilitate future growth and jobs can be found at www.gobrightdrop.com. BrightDrop Core, a new product, was also revealed by the company. This subscription-based software platform is designed to help customers optimize their businesses.
BrightDrop launched the Trace Grocery in September. It’s a temperature-controlled electric cart to help ease order fulfillment and customer pickup for online groceries by eliminating steps in the process. BrightDrop will begin using the cart later in the year for its e-commerce operations. Kroger, a grocery giant, will be BrightDrop’s first customer.
BrightDrop, which GM started in early 2021, offers two commercial electric delivery vehicles — the Zevo 600, which resembles the big brown UPS-style truck, and a smaller Zevo 400 midsize truck. These vehicles will be manufactured at GM’s CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersol (Canada), which opens this quarter. Katz said BrightDrop plans to start making 50,000 trucks annually there in 2025.
BrightDrop also offers the Trace eCart, formerly called the EP1, an electrically-powered pallet that helps move packages to ease the burden on workers’ bodies, and mobile asset management for the Trace. That’s software to provide location monitoring, battery status, remote commands to lock and unlock, and over-the-air updates of connected features.
BrightDrop Core software, which combines data from Zevo, Trace and other sources, provides customers with greater visibility, insight and control over their operations. BrightDrop Core, which will be released in January 2019, includes an initial offering with a user portal as well mobile productivity apps and a digital driver experience. These features are designed to increase driver efficiency in the field.
BrightDrop already has vehicles in the field making deliveries and has received more than 25.000 reservations for its electric vans.
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Contact Jamie L. LaReau: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Sign up to become a subscriber