Proterra

These venture- and private-equity-backed startups are tackling some of society’s biggest challenges—and having an impact that belies their size.

Impact 20-2020-Proterra

Proterra makes battery technology for transportation, building on more than a decade making electrified city buses. Proterra was early to identify buses as a niche well-suited to electrification, because they have fixed routes and usually spend the night at depots where they can charge up. Diesel buses also generate noise and pollution that can be serious problems for cities, and which are essentially eliminated by electrification. Proterra has delivered more than 500 electric buses to U.S. transit agencies, and says it has several hundred more on order. Its next big project is selling its battery systems to other bus manufacturers, starting in Australia. Proterra also recently added heavy-duty truck batteries to its lineup. During its early growth phase, the company was guided by Tesla alum Ryan Popple, though he transitioned from CEO to Executive Director earlier this year. Proterra has raised more than a half billion dollars, most recently a whopping $155 million in a 2018 funding round led by Daimler.

Impact 20

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Proterra

Proterra in Fortune Rankings