The autonomous forklift vendor Cyngn has raised $33 million in funding to accelerate its growth and proliferate sales of its industrial autonomous vehicles, the Menlo Park, California-based firm said today.
As a publicly traded company, Cyngn raised the money by selling company shares through the financial firm Aegis Capital in three rounds occurring in December. According to forms filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the move also required moves to reduce corporate spending for three months, including layoffs that reduced staff from approximately 80 people to approximately 60 people, temporarily suspended certain non-essential operations, and reduced or eliminated all discretionary expenses.
The fresh backing follows recent market traction such as a 2023 pre-order of 100 self-driving forklifts by the building manufacturer Arauco and a 2024 commercial paid deployment of its autonomous DriveMod Forklift model. The firm also makes autonomous tuggers and stockchasers.
In the company’s view, autonomous vehicles are playing a critical role in transforming industrial operations by enhancing productivity and safety.
“This capital infusion strengthens our ability to fund operations, drive commercialization, and continue investing in groundbreaking autonomous vehicle technologies,” Lior Tal, chairman and CEO of Cyngn, said in a release. “With increasing demand for automation solutions, especially in the automotive, heavy machinery and logistics industries, this funding allows us to build on recent momentum, including our upcoming autonomous forklift launch and other strategic advancements.”
Editor's note:This article was revised on January 14 to include information from Cyngn on its finances.
