Electric Truck Startup Windrose Has Stiffed a Slew of People

Since its launch in 2022, Belgium-based electric long-haul truck startup Windrose Technology has raised some $400 million from Chinese banks and other investors, according to CEO Wen Han, who also says he plans to take the company public in the U.S. and Europe this year at a $2 billion valuation. Windrose has also sponsored a professional basketball club in Belgium and pledged millions of dollars to Stanford University.

And yet all but one of Windrose’s dozen U.S. employees have been fired or left the company in recent months, Wen confirmed. One employee remains in Belgium and one in Finland. In interviews, several former employees said the company over the last year or so felt like a threadbare enterprise. Corporate credit cards did not work, wages went unpaid and equipment was repossessed after Windrose failed to pay for it.