BY AUTOMOTIVE VENTURES | 23 JANUARY 2023 | VIEW ONLINE ➡️

Most of the auto industry will descend on Dallas this week for the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Conference. It’s my favorite week of the year as I get to catch up with industry colleagues and discover new, innovative technology companies that might be a prospect for our investment funds.Don't miss our "Super Session" on The Future of Automotive Retail on Thursday, at 12:15 PM. I'll be joined on stage by four outstanding dealers: Liza Borches, CEO of Carter Myers Automotive; Dinos Constantine, COO of Holler-Classic Automotive Group; Michael Dunlap, VP, and Partner of Schomp Automotive Group; and Bill Feinstein, President of Planet Honda. Details here. See you out there!Many thanks,Steve Greenfield

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🎙️ Hear from Automotive Ventures portfolio company Recurrent on why understanding battery health is pivotal in valuing used EVs (Link to Article)🎙️ In addition to moderating the NADA Super Session on Thursday, Steve Greenfield will be interviewed by David Spisak at the Tekion booth at 8:00 AM Saturday, will present at the LotLinx booth at 2:45 PM Saturday, and be interviewed at the CBT News booth on Sunday at 11:30 AM.

🏆 Steve Greenfield will be accepting the AWA Lighthouse Award at NADA on Thursday evening. Tickets available here. 

🗓️ The Automotive Ventures investment team is excited to meet with any seed/pre-seed startups attending NADA in Dallas later this month. Book time with us here.

🌟 Carwiser: Carwiser enables consumers to get instant offers to sell their cars. Just enter your basic information one time to get instant dealer offers in minutes. No hassles. No spam. 100% free. Carwiser makes it easy for dealer to plug into their flow of fresh consumer vehicles, and acquire cars they would never get access to, otherwise. (More here)

🌟 ACCURE Battery Intelligence: Turn battery data into business intelligence. Ensure exceptional battery performance—reliably and safely—with award-winning battery analytics software built by world-class battery experts. Battery Intelligence software uses cloud-based analytics to monitor your entire Li-ion battery fleet. (More here)

🚗 Dealer Tech & Auto Commerce:

Impel announced a $104 million growth investment led by Silversmith Capital Partners, a Boston-based growth equity firm, with participation from existing investor Wavecrest Growth Partners. (Link to article)

🦾 Autonomy, Robotics & AI:

The investment division of Volvo Group made an undisclosed investment in autonomous driving technology company Waabi. The investment by the company that manufactures Volvo and Mack heavy-duty trucks represents its view that the commercialization of autonomous driving will come in freight movement before passenger cars. Volvo Trucks North America, the U.S. division of the Swedish company, already has a partnership with Aurora Innovation and plans to test autonomous trucks on freight routes. (Link to article)Outrider, a startup developing autonomous electric yard trucks, closed a $73 million Series C round led by FM Capital and attracted new investors Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and NVIDIA’s venture capital group, nVentures . Outrider has developed an autonomous system that includes an electric yard truck, software to manage the operations and site infrastructure. While humans may still be needed at the distribution yard, the autonomous system handles the bulk of the work, including hitching and unhitching trailers, connecting and disconnecting trailer brake lines and monitoring trailer locations. (Link to article)Ottopia announced that it has raised $14.5 million in its Series A funding round. It includes participation from ComfortDelGro, one of the world's largest public transport companies, AI Alliance Fund, and existing investors such as MizMaa Ventures, IN Venture and Next Gear Ventures. This marks the largest Series A in the history of teleoperation companies. Ottopia's mission is to enable autonomy in multiple industries such as mobility, logistics, freight, last-mile delivery, agriculture, and construction. (Link to article)

⚡ Electrification & Alternative Fuels:

A U.S.-based subsidiary of oil company Shell is acquiring EV charging network operator VOLTA in an all-cash transaction valued at $169 million. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Shell will acquire all outstanding shares of Class A common stock of Volta at $0.86 per share in cash upon completion of the merger. The company places its chargers at shopping malls and grocery stores, where EV drivers can power up their batteries for free. (Link to article)

Wattapp Technologies which runs electric vehicle charging startup ElectricPe, has secured pre-Series A funding of $5 million (around Rs 41 crore) led by Green Frontier Capital. The round also saw participation from existing investors Blume Ventures, and Micelio Fund, with NB Ventures, Anchorage Capital Partners, Supermorpheus and Climate Angels. The company has declined to comment on the post-money valuation. (Link to article)

Caterpillar announced a strategic investment into Lithos Carbon Energy, a U.S.-based battery technology company that produces lithium-ion battery packs. Headquartered in California, Lithos specializes in designing, engineering and manufacturing shock-resistant and high-performance battery solutions for applications including off-road and marine. (Link to article)

Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) Prime Number Capital Acquisition Corp. I (NASDAQ:PNAC) said it has entered into a business combination agreement with EV battery technology developer noco-noco. Prime Number said in a filing that the deal values Noco-Noco at around $1.35 billion. The SPAC describes Noco-Noco as a development-stage manufacturer of carbon-zero EV battery technologies. The SPAC went public in May 2022, raising $64.5 million. (Link to article)

ONE MOTO - Electric Vehicles, an EV player with a global presence, has secured $150 million in funding to finance vehicles in the UK and drive decarbonization in the country's last-mile, delivery and gig economy industry. The company is offering finance to fleet operators at a cost of £3 per day to expand their electric delivery fleet. With a goal to electrify all last-mile vehicles in the UK by 2026, this financing from ONE MOTO is expected to lead to a reduction of 168,000 tonnes of CO2 and a 50% drop in the production of harmful pollutants from petrol vehicles. ONE MOTO is also joining forces with Avis Budget Group and is in discussions to build the UAE’s first EV manufacturing facility, which is expected to break ground in Q4 2022. (Link to article)

Singapore-based electric motorcycle firm Scorpio Electric has successfully raised $6.75 million to further develop and test its first electric motorcycle, the Scorpio Electric X1. The funds will be used to manufacture the first batch of X1 pre-production prototypes. Mass production and global deliveries of the X1 are set to commence in the second half of 2023. (Link to article)A unit of Apollo Future Mobility Group (AFMG) will buy Chinese electric vehicle maker WM Motor Global for $2.02 billion, according to a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange. WM, a privately held startup, sold 44,152 electric sport utility vehicles in 2021, more than double the previous year, according to the filing. After launching its M7 model in 2023, the company expects to have five models on the market. (Link to article)

🚲 Micromobility:

Electric bicycle company TENWAYS E-Bike completed a Series A funding round of CNY 300 million (USD $44 million). The lead investor of Series A2 was L Catterton, and Cygnus Equity was the exclusive financial advisor for the round. TENWAYS previously received investment from institutions including Meridian Capital China in the Series A1 round. It completed a Pre-Series A round exclusively from GL ventures. Founded in May 2021 and headquartered in the Netherlands, TENWAYS develops and produces affordable, easy-to-use, and eco-friendly electric bikes. The company's offices, assembly, and warehousing are located in Europe. TENWAYS has a vertically integrated global manufacturing and supply chain. (Link to article)

🅿️ Parking, Traffic & Smart City:

India-based "super app" for car owners Park+ has raised $17 million in its Series C round, led by existing investors Epiq Capital, Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners India. The round values the company at $340 million, up from around $150 million during its Series B funding in November 2021. Launched in July 2019, Park+ initially offered corporate parking solutions but the use-case lost traction during the Covid-19 outbreak, pushing the company to pivot into a one-stop solution for car owners through a super app that it launched in 2021. (Link to article)

🌐 Vehicle Connectivity & Cybersecurity:

Auto retail technology giant The Reynolds and Reynolds Company is the lead investor in Sheeva.AI's $9.25 million series A funding round. Sheeva.AI is building an in-car payments software system that works off a vehicle's location. Sheeva.AI's geolocation technology will allow drivers to seamlessly pay for fueling, electric vehicle charging, parking, curbside pickup and drive-through services from their car. The technology can detect a vehicle at a specific gas pump, battery charging space, parking spot or drive-through lane. It then enables payment via an in-vehicle infotainment screen or an automaker's mobile application. (Link to article)

🏎️ Early-stage AutoTech or Mobility founder? We'd love to hear from you.✨ Looking our Dealership AutoTech Company Landscape? View that here.✨ Looking our Mobility Tech Company Landscape? View that here.🏁 Interested in investing directly into early-stage AutoTech and Mobility companies? Check out the new The Automotive Ventures Investment Club (AVIC)📈 Are you a Dealer Principal interested in adopting and investing in new technology, learn more about the DealerFund here.🚀 Interested in exploring Automotive Ventures' portfolio companies shown below? Check them out here.