BY AUTOMOTIVE VENTURES | 10 JULY 2023 | VIEW ONLINE ➡️

The pace of EV sales has slowed amid a buildup of unsold inventory at dealerships (4x inventory levels from last year). (💲Link)Another automaker adopts the Tesla (NACS) charging standard: Starting in 2024, Mercedes-Benz will offer a Tesla/NACS adapter for the company’s existing CCS BEVs. Then, for model years 2025 and later, the company’s North American vehicles will be built with a NACS port. (Link)New vehicles are packed with sensors and technology that protect and pamper drivers and passengers. But those features are also raising the cost of repairs after accidents. (💲Link)Back in 2019, China had roughly 500 registered EV manufacturers. Today, this number has been whittled down to about a fifth of that size. The top four players now have a 60% market share. (💲Link)“There are more than 120 car makers within the (BEV) market, and about 150 new models will be launched in 2023," CEO of the Volkswagen Group’s Chinese operations, Ralf Brandstätter. "The fierce competition has led to deep price discounts." (referring to the Chinese market). (Link)Tesla requires drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel while using both of its driver-assistance systems, and the systems are designed to issue periodic reminders. By replicating the pressure of a driver’s hands, "wheel weights" silence the nagging. (💲Link)Grumpy locals in SFO are sabotaging Cruise and Waymo robotaxis with traffic cones. (Link)New York is expanding its fleet of shark-monitoring drones after a recent uptick in sightings, as crowds flock to beaches to try to beat this summer’s record-shattering heat. (💲Link)

Elon Musk's SpaceX now has a de-facto monopoly on rocket launches. (💲Link)Current SaaS company valuations: The fastest growing companies are trading at very high multiples valued primarily on growth. For everyone else, strong unit economics & margins matter more than they have in the past decade. (Link)Have a great week,Steve Greenfield

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🗞️ On this week's Future of Automotive segment on CBT News, I speak with Devin Daly from Impel to discuss AI for auto dealerships. (Link)

🌟 SendSmart uses automation to connect auto dealership personnel with only the responsive qualified leads ready to do business right now. When they reply, SendSmart connects them with the sales team immediately via whatever channel the customer prefers. (Link)

🌟 APFusion is a B2B automotive marketplace that helps salvage yards increase their fill rate and close more sales setting out to change the salvage industry forever by modernizing and optimizing how people find and sell auto parts. (Link)

✈️ Air Mobility & Space

Benchmark Space Systems, a developer of in-space propulsion products, has raised a $33.2 million Series B round. Benchmark designs and manufactures chemical, electric, and hybrid propulsion systems, announcing in March that it had closed contracts for nearly two dozen metal plasma thrusters. (Link)

🦾 Autonomy, Robotics & AI

RoboDeck, the “Roomba" for decks, announced a pre-Seed round of $2 million. The system is designed for maintenance — applying a sealant to the surface of the wood, capable of treating up to 1,000 square feet in around 20 minutes. (Link)Japanese robotics firm Telexistence raised a $170 million Series B. Telexistence creates AI-powered robotic arms for the retail and warehousing sectors. The deal also includes a strategic business partnership agreement with SoftBank Robotic Group, a subsidiary of SoftBank, for commercialization in North America. (Link)

🚘 Dealer Tech & Auto Commerce

STELLA Automotive AI, a virtual customer assistant that uses cognitive conversational artificial intelligence to answer phones, talk to customers, and strengthen core BDC functions like setting appointments, closed a $4M seed round. (Link)

⚡ Electrification & Alternate Fuels

Bluedot, a single payment platform in the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem, has raised $5 million to enhance and expand its app and card for EV drivers and charging management for fleets. Bluedot addresses charging pain points faced by electric vehicle users and fleets. Their vision: to create a convenient fuel card platform, similar to Wex, but focused exclusively on EV driving and charging. (Link)Battery Smart, an India-based battery swapping network for electric two and three-wheelers, secured $33 million in a Pre-Series B funding round. Battery Smart experienced a 6x increase in revenue and customer base in the past 12 months. Currently operating in 25 cities with over 600 SwapStations, the company has completed over 12 million battery swaps and aims to double that number in the near future. (Link)NEU Battery Materials, a Singapore-based lithium-ion battery recycling startup, has raised US$3.7 million in a seed funding round. The startup uses an electrochemical redox targeting technology, which requires just electricity, to recycle battery materials. The process also uses regenerative chemicals to avoid toxic waste and harsh acids. The patented technique generates battery-grade lithium, which can then be supplied back to battery manufacturers. (Link)BP Ventures is investing $10 million into WasteFuel, which converts municipal and agricultural waste into sustainable energy, including biomethanol for shipping. (Link)

🛴 Micromobility

Vok Bikes closed a 3.8 million Euro Seed round. Vok Bikes recently launched a new model with five times the cargo space in the UK, entering a new customer segment of multinational freight companies and large-scale e-commerce businesses. Vok Bikes is on track to release 1,000 more cargo bikes across Europe in the next year. (Link)

🅿️ Parking, Traffic & Smart City

Urban SDK, a cloud-based traffic management system of record for state and local governments, announced a seed funding round. Urban SDK provides public works, planning, and law enforcement officials with a system of record used to create safer roadways. (Link)

📱Shared Mobility & Subscriptions

FINN secured a $27.2 million asset-backed facility. FINN offers subscriptions for electric, hybrid, and gas cars — allowing consumers to log in to the website or app, select their vehicle and choose a subscription term. FINN’s subscriptions are for six- or 12-month terms and range from $570 to $1,399 per month based on term, vehicle type, and state tax. Monthly payments cover maintenance, registration, and roadside assistance. FINN delivers the vehicles to consumers. (Link)Nigeria’s mobility fintech company Moove, Uber’s largest vehicle supply partner in EMEA, has secured US$8 million in financing to expand its vehicle fleet in Ghana. Founded in 2019, Moove is democratizing vehicle ownership in Africa by providing revenue-based vehicle financing to mobility entrepreneurs. By embedding its alternative credit scoring technology onto ride-hailing, e-logistics, and instant delivery platforms, Moove can use proprietary performance and revenue analytics to underwrite loans to drivers that have previously been excluded from financial services. (Link)

🏭 Vehicle Production & Assembly

RapidFlight, an unmanned aircraft manufacturing company announced the acquisition of the intellectual property (IP) portfolio of Local Motors. Local Motors was an American automobile manufacturing company founded in 2007. A pioneer in the use of large-format additive manufacturing technologies, the company had successfully built large-scale transportation vehicles and autonomous buses such as the Olli™. (Link)

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