BY AUTOMOTIVE VENTURES | 12 JUNE 2023 | VIEW ONLINE ➡️

Interested in investing in early-stage AutoTech and Mobility companies?Join our Investment Club for free: (Link)

Looking for a great list of dealership-created automotive software companies? Check out the responses to a recent LinkedIn poll. (Link)Electric vehicles are often associated with liberal coastal types who speak of saving the planet. Nationwide, most of the counties with the highest EV uptake are predictably blue and often high-income, but pockets of red are springing up. Even some Republican lawmakers who have long supported the oil-and-gas industry have begun sponsoring a few bills that favor EVs, partly because their wealthy constituents are buying the cars. (💲Link)

One of China's top battery makers reckons it has cracked a technology to provide even cheaper and more powerful packs for electric vehicles. GOTION HIGH-TECH recently unveiled a lithium-iron-manganese-phosphate battery — LMFP for short — which it says will power an EV for 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) on each charge. (💲Link)China rocked the auto world twice this year. First, its electric vehicles stunned Western rivals at the Shanghai auto show with their quality, features and price. Then came reports that in the first quarter of 2023 it dethroned Japan as the world’s largest auto exporter. (💲Link)Some in the EV industry think super-fast charging will need to happen in order for consumers to widely adopt EVs. Others argue that this view is a throwback to the fueling habits of the combustion-engine era. Most charging now happens at home, and that’s likely to continue. (💲Link)The high expense of manufacturing EVs is forcing automakers to cut costs and juice revenues wherever possible. Besides trimming incentive spending, car companies want to sell more services—including well after a car is sold. The attention-grabbing opportunity is the potential to sell software, notably for self-driving technology, via over-the-air updates. Tesla charges $15,000 for its “full self-driving” package, which allows drivers to take their hands off the wheel but not their eyes off the road, including to existing customers. Others would love to get that kind of money for comparable products they are launching. (💲Link)General Motors will allow their EVs to charge at 12,000 Tesla Superchargers, and build Tesla's preferred North American Charging Standard connectors into its EVs starting in 2025. GM will weave Tesla’s Supercharger network into its own vehicle and mobile apps. Musk stressed that GM vehicle owners would not be treated differently than Tesla owners at Supercharger stations. (💲Link)Seven months ago, when Tesla announced it would share its EV charging connector design to encourage automakers to adopt the technology and help make it the new standard in North America, few, if any, predicted competitors would bite. Now, with Ford Motor Company and General Motors agreeing to integrate Tesla charging tech in their next-gen vehicles by 2025, the EV industry is suddenly on the cusp of a shift that could splinter the market. (Link)Tesla’s network capacity will be more fully utilized as a result of Ford Motor Company and now General Motors joining it. The losers are independent charging networks, which might not get as much traffic once they face competition from Tesla’s network. Longer term, they may even come under pressure to shift their systems to Tesla’s standard, which could be expensive. (💲Link)Tesla may generate as much as $3 billion by 2030 thanks to deals with Ford Motor Company and General Motors for their electric vehicles to use its charging network. (💲Link)June 9th was the date for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to start enforcing a new set of Safeguards Rule cybersecurity requirements for dealerships, auto lenders and dealership service providers. (Link)AI has become an essential product component for most software companies: 90% of startups have plans or have released an AI feature, 54% of those features will launch in 2023. (Link)AI chatbots have a problem: They lose money on every chat. (💲Link)The ITF (International Transport Forum) released its Measuring New Mobility report, which has recommendations for how local governments should define, regulate and assess the performance of new mobility modes. (Link)Apple has added a new feature in iOS 17 designed to help EV drivers find available chargers. EV drivers can use a filter to search for availability within different charging networks and by plug type. (Link)

Have a great week,Steve Greenfield

Forwarded this email and not yet a subscriber? 

📰 My perspective on the future of the automotive finance industry. (Link)

🗣️ It was a pleasure catching up with Jeff Kelley from the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association (VADA) to discuss the automotive industry. (Link)

🗣️ I had the chance to sit down with Andrew Chow of FICO to discuss the future of hyper-personalized automotive experiences, made possible in part by electric vehicles. (Link)

📰 Thanks to Mark Hollmer for featuring the new Automotive Ventures DealerFund in Automotive News. (💲Link)

🌟 Automotus builds first-of-its-kind automated curb management solutions to help reduce emissions, congestion and safety hazards in our communities creating safer, more sustainable streets for everyone. (Link)

🌟Smartville provides sustainable and high-value stationary energy storage solutions from repurposed electric vehicle batteries. (Link)

🛠️ Aftermarket & Repair

Fenix Parts, a leading recycler and reseller of original equipment manufacturer automotive parts, has completed its acquisition of the assets of Fox Auto Parts. (Link)StoneEagle announced the acquisition of Pencilwrench, whose technology can help technicians and service advisors write accurate, comprehensive repair event documentation. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. (Link)

🚜 AgTech & Industrial

Tertill, the developer of a solar-powered weeding robot for home gardens, has merged with Harvest Automation, an agrobotics-focused company best known for its plant-moving HV100 robots. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. (Link)

✈️ Air Mobility & Space

CleanJoule, a U.S.-based startup focused on the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), announced a US$50 million investment round. (Link)

🦾 Autonomy, Robotics & AI

Pioneer Automotive Technologies, Inc. has made a strategic investment in CEREBRUMX, a leading AI-driven automotive data management company. CerebrumX works with automotive OEMs to operate a platform that collects, integrates, and analyzes real data from more than 15 million vehicles (70% of all connected vehicles in the North American market) and provides innovative services for third-party partners in insurance, and fleet management. (Link)

🚗 Dealer Tech & Auto Commerce

DAS Technology (formerly Digital Air Strike) has made its ninth acquisition, 3 Birds Marketing, a customer data and experience platform technology company. With the addition of 3 Birds, DAS Technology said it is now the largest CDXP provider in the automotive and specialty vehicle space. Combined, they serve more than 9,200 retailers, partners and OEMs. (Link)The Reynolds and Reynolds Company has acquired AutoVision, hoping to use its next-generation vehicle acquisition technology to help retailers sell more used cars. Financial terms were not disclosed. (Link)

⚡Electrification & Alternate Fuels

Seaport Global Acquisition II Corp. (NASDAQ: SGII), a publicly-listed SPAC, and American Battery Materials (OTC Pink: BLTH), a minerals exploration and development company focused on environmentally friendly direct lithium extraction, announced a definitive merger agreement for a business combination. (Link)Amogy, a pioneer of emission-free, energy-dense ammonia power solutions, announced its $11M Series B-2 fundraising. Amogy’s goal is to support commercialization, begin manufacturing of its innovative ammonia-to-power technology, and bring its first product to market in 2024. (Link)OXCCU has raised $22.7 million (€18 million) through Series A financing to bring a promising and cost-effective sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to the market. (Link)Octopus Investments is investing £50 million in the Northern Ireland-based electric vehicle (EV) chargepoint operator Weev. (Link)

🗞️ Media & LifestyleMundimoto Group, the largest motorcycle marketplace in Europe, has closed a financing round of €10 million. (Link)

🛴Micromobility

Amsterdam-based Cargoroo, a shared electric cargo bikes provider, has secured €1.1M in a crowdfunding campaign on the Oneplanetcrowd platform from 543 funders. (Link)

Cleveland-based electric mobility and portable battery manufacturer LAND Energy announced it is ramping up production of its flagship two-wheel electric vehicle, The District, thanks to new Series A funding. (Link) 

River, an Indian EV startup that introduced its first two-wheeler in February, has raised $15 million in funding. (Link)👥 Shared Mobility & Subscriptionmicromobility.com (NASDAQ: MCOM), a pioneering global micromobility ecosystem, has signed a Letter of Intent to merge with EVmo (OTC: YAYO), a leading provider of fleet management and vehicle rentals for the rideshare and delivery gig economy. (Link)

🚛 Supply Chain & Logistics

Curri, a tech platform focused on last-mile logistics for the construction industry, raised a $42 million Series B round. Curri delivers on-demand, last-mile logistics for construction with a nationwide fleet of cars, trucks and flatbeds. (Link)🔐 Vehicle Connectivity & CyberSecurityDriver Technologies, an AI-based mobility tech company that delivers a safer, smarter driving experience, closed a $6 million strategic funding round. (Link)

🏎️ Early-stage AutoTech or Mobility founder? We'd love to hear from you.🏁 Interested in investing directly into early-stage AutoTech and Mobility companies? Check out The Automotive Ventures Investment Club (AVIC)✨ Looking for our Dealership AutoTech Company Landscape? View that here.✨ Looking for our Mobility Tech Company Landscape? View that here.🚀 Interested in exploring Automotive Ventures' portfolio companies shown below? Check them out here.