Grounded secures $5M Seed Round, opens new 50,000-square-foot manufacturing facility to scale commercial fleet production. The Associated Press Aug 18, 2026, 7:02 AM "We built this company to bring smart, modular electric vehicles to the businesses and institutions that keep our cities running," said Grounded CEO Sam Shapiro. "With this expansion, we can finally build at the scale our fleet customers need and bring our platform to an entirely new class of commercial vehicles." DETROIT-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Aug 18, 2026- Grounded, the Detroit-based advanced manufacturing and mobility company known for its modular electric vehicles, today announced it has closed a $5 million seed round and is moving production into a 50,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Detroit. The expansion increases Grounded's production capacity by 1,900% and will support the launch of a new vehicle-agnostic box platform that extends the company's software-defined, modular vehicle architecture into a significantly larger commercial fleet market of both electric and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. "We built this company to bring smart, modular electric vehicles to the businesses and institutions that keep our cities running," said Grounded CEO Sam Shapiro. "With this expansion, we can finally build at the scale our fleet customers need and bring our platform to an entirely new class of commercial vehicles." "This new facility is a turning point for Grounded," said Sam Shapiro, Founder and CEO of Grounded. "We built this company to bring smart, modular electric vehicles to the businesses and institutions that keep our cities running. With this expansion, we can finally build at the scale our fleet customers need and bring our platform to an entirely new class of commercial vehicles." $5M Seed Round Fuels Next-Generation Manufacturing The seed round will fund three areas of expansion: standing up the box platform manufacturing line, including new tooling, equipment and R&D; building out the larger Detroit production facility; and growing the manufacturing, engineering, and sales team responsible for scaling the company's vehicle platform. The new box line builds on the software-defined, modular architecture Grounded developed for its existing van-based vehicles. Its adaptive customization technology allows a common vehicle platform to be configured for a wide range of applications, giving fleet operators purpose-built vehicles without requiring Grounded to engineer an entirely new vehicle for every use case. "The economy is moving onto wheels," said Grounded Chief Product Officer Nadia Meyer. "We're seeing notable growth across food and beverage franchises, field operations, public safety, and mobile healthcare. Our box platform embraces those use cases and speeds manufacturing to meet that demand and serve the sizable addressable market." Growing Fleet Adoption Across Industries Grounded is already putting its electric fleet vehicles to work across a diverse set of industries. Customers include Colgate, Nokia, Coffee Fellows, Wayne State University Medical, PetEvolution and Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies, with vehicles supporting applications ranging from mobile medical and dental services to food service and other field operations. The expansion marks the next phase in Grounded's evolution from an electric RV startup into a broader advanced manufacturing and fleet technology company. Grounded will continue building fully electric RVs for direct-to-consumer customers while increasing its focus on commercial and government fleets seeking to electrify operations without sacrificing the flexibility of purpose-built vehicles. "Grounded is a company on the move, both literally and figuratively," said Kevin Johnson, president and CEO of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation. "This team emerged from Newlab with a bold idea and turned it into a business that now requires 50,000 square feet and 15 new jobs to support its growth. Our Retention Program made the connections that kept this exciting company in the City, adding another strong chapter to Detroit's story as a leader in mobility." Building the Team for the Next Stage of Growth Grounded is also expanding its commercial leadership as it scales. The company has hired Drew Snow, formerly of Adrian Steel, as Director of International Sales to help grow the company's fleet business and bring its modular electric vehicle platform to customers across new markets. Grounded will begin production at the new Detroit facility in August 2026, with capacity ramping through 2027 to support existing commitments, the new box platform and a growing pipeline of enterprise and municipal fleet customers About Grounded Founded by former SpaceX engineers, Grounded is an advanced manufacturing and mobility company based in Detroit, Michigan, building smart, modular, electric vehicles for adventure and commercial use. Grounded specializes in modular manufacturing solutions that allow vehicles to be customized for a wide range of applications, paired with a connected software platform for remote monitoring and fleet management. Learn more at groundedevs.com. Please find images HERE Lydia Davey Herter, Attentio PR [email protected] KEYWORD: MICHIGAN UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: TECHNOLOGY EV/ELECTRIC VEHICLES AUTOMOTIVE GENERAL AUTOMOTIVE AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURING MANUFACTURING SOFTWARE RECREATIONAL VEHICLES FLEET MANAGEMENT PUB: 08/18/2026 06:00 AM/DISC: 08/18/2026 06:02 AM You May Also Like

Grounded secures $5M seed round, opens new manufacturing facility. 2 minutes read Grounded, the Detroit-based advanced manufacturing and mobility company known for its modular electric vehicles, announced it has closed a $5 million seed round and is moving production into a 50,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Detroit. The expansion increases Grounded's production capacity by 1,900% and will support the launch of a new vehicle-agnostic box platform that extends the company's software-defined, modular vehicle architecture into a significantly larger commercial fleet market of both electric and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, Grounded said in a release. "This new facility is a turning point for Grounded," said Sam Shapiro, founder and CEO of Grounded. "We built this company to bring smart, modular electric vehicles to the businesses and institutions that keep our cities running. With this expansion, we can finally build at the scale our fleet customers need and bring our platform to an entirely new class of commercial vehicles." $5M seed round fuels next-generation manufacturing. The seed round will fund three areas of expansion: standing up the box platform manufacturing line, including new tooling, equipment and R&D; building out the larger Detroit production facility; and growing the manufacturing, engineering and sales team responsible for scaling the company's vehicle platform. The new box line builds on the software-defined, modular architecture Grounded developed for its existing van-based vehicles, the company said. Its adaptive customization technology allows a common vehicle platform to be configured for a wide range of applications, giving fleet operators purpose-built vehicles without requiring Grounded to engineer an entirely new vehicle for every use case. "The economy is moving onto wheels," said Nadia Meyer, Grounded chief product officer. "We're seeing notable growth across food and beverage franchises, field operations, public safety, and mobile healthcare. Our box platform embraces those use cases and speeds manufacturing to meet that demand and serve the sizable addressable market." Growing fleet adoption across industries. Grounded is already putting its electric fleet vehicles to work across a diverse set of industries. Customers include Colgate, Nokia, Coffee Fellows, Wayne State University Medical, PetEvolution and Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies, with vehicles supporting applications ranging from mobile medical and dental services to food service and other field operations. The expansion marks the next phase in Grounded's evolution from an electric RV startup into a broader advanced manufacturing and fleet technology company, Grounded said. Grounded will continue building fully electric RVs for direct-to-consumer customers while increasing its focus on commercial and government fleets seeking to electrify operations without sacrificing the flexibility of purpose-built vehicles. "Grounded is a company on the move, both literally and figuratively," said Kevin Johnson, president and CEO of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation. "This team emerged from Newlab with a bold idea and turned it into a business that now requires 50,000 square feet and 15 new jobs to support its growth. Our Retention Program made the connections that kept this exciting company in the city, adding another strong chapter to Detroit's story as a leader in mobility." Building the team for the next stage of growth. Grounded is also expanding its commercial leadership as it scales. The company has hired Drew Snow, formerly of Adrian Steel, as director of international sales to help grow the company's fleet business and bring its modular electric vehicle platform to customers across new markets. Grounded will begin production at the new Detroit facility in August 2026, with capacity ramping through 2027 to support existing commitments, the new box platform and a growing pipeline of enterprise and municipal fleet customers.