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We're excited for the upcoming NAVICON on November 17th, 2022 (More info
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Here are the past week's AutoTech and Mobility transactions. For a more detailed monthly recap, check out our
. Enjoy!
Last Week's Auto-Tech Transactions:
Dealer Tech & Auto Commerce:
, one of the nation’s leading privately owned outsourced business development centers (BDCs) for automotive dealerships, has acquired Power BDC. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction represents CentralBDC’s first industry acquisition, further augmenting its current suite of services offered for large and small dealership groups. CentralBDC said PowerBDC is staffed by an experienced team representing more than 200 years of inbound and outbound lead generation, lead management, and CRM experience in the retail automotive, RV, powersports, and marine marketplace. (
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Flow Automotive Companies, a third-generation, 65-year-old automotive group based in North Carolina with over 45 franchise dealerships, has invested in
, a leading provider of data management, marketing analytics, and automation solutions for the automotive industry. Financial details were not disclosed. (
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Electrification & Alternative Fuels:
, the alternative-energy vehicle brand of GEELY’s commercial-vehicle subsidiary, has netted more than $300 million in the first round of external fundraising. The investors were led by Hidden Hill Capital, the investment arm of Singaporean logistics company Global Logistics Properties Ltd. Other key investors include Korean asset management company Mirae Asset Global Investments and four Chinese investment companies -- Transfar, CITIC Securities Investment, Industry Foundation of Xiangtan and GLy Capital Management Limited. (
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(previously known as Zenlabs Energy), a high-performance lithium-ion cell company, announced that it has closed a $24 million Series B investment round with Lilium, developer of the first all-electric vertical take-off and landing (“eVTOL”) jet; Applied Ventures LLC; Catalus Capital, a multi-strategy private equity firm; and a global investment company. Ionblox addressed all the well-known challenges of using silicon as an active material, including swelling and irreversible capacity loss, and created a groundbreaking cell design that can uniquely deliver the key performance attributes that automotive and aviation applications require, namely high energy, high power, fast charging, high cycle life, and low cost. The company’s batteries are ideally suited for high performance automotive and aviation applications, where the combination of these features can drive the electrification of transportation. (
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A unit of Australian miner
has agreed to go public on Nasdaq through a merger with blank-check company SIZZLE Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: "SZZL"). The deal will give the combined business a market value of about $972 million, assuming there are no redemptions. The merged entity Critical Metals Corp. will own European Lithium’s project in Wolfsberg, Austria, which could be the first licensed lithium mine in Europe. (
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, a pioneer in lithium-ion dry-electrode technology, announced the close of its Series A financing. Anzu Partners led AMB's oversubscribed $25M Series A funding, with participation from TDK Ventures, Foothill Ventures, Toyota Ventures, Zeon Ventures, SAIC Capital, VINFAST , Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, and Creative Ventures. The financing will allow AMB to expand its team and accelerate its commercialization efforts, advance its roll-to-roll manufacturing pilot line to a production-grade line for customers, and extend its dry-electrode manufacturing platform to new battery chemistries and technologies like solid-state batteries. (
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, a developer of an online lending platform connecting electric vehicle fleet operators with institutional lenders, has raised a $2.5m Seed round led by Powerhouse Ventures. Zeti provides pay-per-mile vehicle finance. It also provides real-time investment performance reporting, usage-based billing, real-time vehicle behavior, and diagnostic data. (
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Autonomy, Robotics & AI:
, a San Francisco, CA-based tech company redefining GNSS, ADAS and autonomy, industrial machine control, commercial transportation, mobile and emerging mass-market applications, raised $100M in Series D funding. The round was led by SK and Potentum Partners with participation from New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Eclipse Ventures, EPIQ Capital Group, FM Capital, OVN Capital, TELUS Ventures, TWM Venture Co., Buckley Ventures, and Schox Venture Capital. (
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BMW i Ventures announced today their lead investment in
, the world’s first intelligent forklift that can autonomously unload pallets from the trailer to the receiving dock. The oversubscribed funding round totals $20M. Additional new investors include Zebra Technologies, Japan Airlines & TransLink Innovation Fund and Foothill Ventures. Existing investors Menlo Ventures, Eniac Ventures, and SignalFire also participated in the round. (
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, an autonomous vehicle startup that burst on the scene in 2017 stacked with a $1 billion investment, is shutting down — its parts being absorbed into its two main backers: Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen AG. Ford said in its third-quarter earnings report released Wednesday that it made a strategic decision to shift its resources to developing advanced driver assistance systems, and not autonomous vehicle technology that can be applied to robotaxis. The company said it recorded a $2.7 billion non-cash, pretax impairment on its investment in Argo AI, resulting in an $827 million net loss for the third quarter. (
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Supply Chain & Logistics:
, a Cincinnati, OH-based retail platform exclusively focused on the trucking insurance market, raised $2.4M in Seed Extension. The round was led by Candid Insurance Investors, with participation from Parker Beauchamp of Markd, Draper University Ventures and SiriusPoint. LuckyTruck is a modern insurance platform for commercial trucking, leveraging data and automation to take the friction out of all aspects of the customer journey. (
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has acquired ELMS: Electric Last Mile Solutions, paving the way for the California-based startup to manufacture its first electric vehicle. The $240 million cash purchase allows Mullen the capability to build up to 50,000 EVs annually, accelerating the launch of the Mullen FIVE and Bollinger B1 and B2 retail vehicles. The deal also gives Mullen control over ELMS’s inventory, intellectual property rights and plant in Mishawaka, Indiana. Mullen, which went public in a 2021 SPAC merger, is in growth mode, acquiring in September a 60% controlling interest in Bollinger Motors, a Michigan-based startup that aimed to build battery-electric commercial trucks and off-road pickups. Electric Last Mile Solutions, another Michigan startup, filed for bankruptcy in June, less than a year after it went public through a $1.4 billion SPAC deal. (
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Logistics tech firm
has reported a $40 million venture capital round to drive the expansion of its real-time, multimodal transportation visibility platform. New investors include Hong Kong-based LFX Venture Partners and Japan-based Yamaha Motor Ventures. Those new investors were joined by existing backers Battery Ventures, Partech, NGP Capital, ETF Partners, Bpifrance Digital Venture, and SAP.iO. Paris-based Shippeo said its technology can help shippers and carriers run more collaborative, automated, sustainable, profitable, and customer-centric supply chains. (
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Shared Mobility & Subscription:
Decentralized Engineering Corp., the developer of the decentralized ride-hailing app
, has raised $9 million in funding to compete with traditional ride-hailing apps on the market such as Uber and Lyft. The seed funding round was co-led by Foundation Capital and Road Capital, with participation from investors at Thursday Ventures, 6th Man Ventures, 305 Ventures and Common Metal, as well as individual investors. DEC said it would use the new funds to expand its platform and The Rideshare Protocol, or TRIP, which is designed to underly decentralized ride-hailing apps. (
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bp ventures has invested $6 million in all-electric ride-hailing business
, a Miami-based company that provides free, on-demand transportation to local communities through their mobile app Ride Freebee. bp led the business’s $8 million Series A funding round, with support from Freebee’s current infrastructure capital partner, Tensile Mobility. (
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Belgium-based vehicle-leasing site
has announced a round of funding totaling €40 million ($39.2 million US) led by Alychlo, fintech venture capital fund NewAlpha Asset Management and D'Ieteren Automotive, the primary distributor of the Volkswagen group in Belgium. Lizy specializes in the long-term rental of used vehicles to companies. (
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Vehicle Connectivity:
By harnessing real-time vehicle data, bus services can become a lot more reliable, punctual and greener.
has developed a hardware and software solution to facilitate this process. The technology, which has already been successfully launched on the market, is able to remotely monitor the condition of buses at all times and can determine when it’s time for a trip to the workshop. The start-up has just secured around €4 million in funding after concluding a seed financing round led by B&C Innovation Investments). (
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Micromobility:
, a São Paolo–based startup, wants to be the Gogoro of Latin America. In other words, it’s looking to build out a network of battery-swapping stations that should help spread adoption of electric two-wheelers in the region. The company closed an $8.5 million seed round — co-led by monashees and Construct Capital — which it will use to start on hardware development for a charging cabinet. (
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Maritime:
Maritime technology company
has announced a Series A funding led by Zeev Ventures to power its mission to improve safety, security, and productivity in the maritime industry with patented AI technology. Investors at Hyperplane Venture Capital, and Munich Re Ventures also participated, bringing the total funding to US $24 million. Using AI and computer vision technology, ShipIn’s FleetVision platform detects events onboard ships in real-time, alerting crew at sea and teams ashore to safety or security hazards, operational anomalies, machinery concerns, and more. (
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Have a great week,
Steve Greenfield
678.576.9972
