Hi ,
I have a couple of special announcements to share with you:
Introducing the Automotive Ventures Investment Club (AVIC)
: Our goal is to democratize access to invest in early-stage AutoTech and Mobility startups for all industry participants. We do all of the heavy lifting for you. Minimum investments range from $2,000 - $15,000 per deal. Learn more about the AVIC
and once ready click
to apply to join.
I'm very excited to announce that our SPAC, Spree Acquisition Corp, will combine with zTrip®:
is the largest taxi fleet operator in the U.S., with operations in 26 cities, more than 2,700 vehicles and over 3,170 contracted drivers on its platform. We're thrilled to work with
and the team at zTrip! (
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We're excited for the upcoming NAVICON on November 17th, 2022 (More info
)
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:
, the global leader in digital automotive engagement software and data, is acquiring CarLabs.ai, a US-based provider of conversational AI products for the automotive industry. (
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has acquired Atlas Auto Auction, a move that adds the Little Rock, Ark., market to the auction group’s footprint. With the purchase of Atlas, DAAG now has 10 auctions throughout the Southeast. (
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The Stellantis-owned used car retail business Aramis Group has acquired
’s Italian operations as the online retailer continues its withdrawal from Europe to focus on cost savings and the UK market. (
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Electrification & Alternative Fuels:
Flux EV, a San Francisco Bay Area-based company with a 'total cost of ownership’ electric vehicle (EV) lease product, announced its official launch and rebranding to ‘
’ alongside $5.4M in seed funding. The round was led by MaC Venture Capital, with participation from BoxGroup, MissionOne Capital, Gardner Capital’s Upward Mobility Fund, I2BF Global Ventures, and Climate Capital, as well as other leading impact and clean economy angel investors. (
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U.K.-based electric vehicle battery firm
has secured short-term funding, a move that will enable it to stave off administration for the time being. The company said its employees had also agreed to a pay cut for November. Britishvolt is looking to build a gigafactory in the county of Northumberland, northeast England. The company has received backing from mining giant Glencore, among others. (
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(NASDAQ: AMV) announced the closing of the initial $10.0 million tranche of a total anticipated $30.0 million private placement with institutional investors. (
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Autonomy, Robotics & AI:
, the self-driving car unit of chip giant Intel Corporation, has braved a volatile stock market and gone public in the US. The company raised $861m in its IPO. It offered 41m shares at a price of $21 each, valuing the company at nearly $17bn. While this is higher than the $15.3bn Intel spent to acquire Mobileye in 2017, it is far below the $50bn valuation Intel had initially hoped to achieve with the IPO. (
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Shared Mobility & Subscription:
, a startup operating in UAE and Saudi Arabia, has raised $10 million in its Series A funding led by Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) as it works to scale its car rental service in the region. The Middle East-based startup, founded in 2019, has raised $14.3 million to date. Al Rajhi Capital, Arab Bank, Amana Capital Limited and Palm Drive Capital and existing backers Signal Peak Ventures and Knollwood Investment Advisory also participated in the new round. (
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WHC Worldwide, LLC, doing business as
, a technology-based, North American-wide transportation company, and Spree Acquisition Corp. 1 Limited (NYSE: SHAP), a special purpose acquisition company, have entered into a business combination agreement that would result in zTrip becoming publicly listed on the NYSE. Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company will be listed on the NYSE under the ticker “ZTRP.” zTrip was formed in January 2018 to develop a platform capable of operating local mobility service providers more effectively and efficiently. Since that time, its focus has been on building a national network of taxi operators and transportation service providers. (
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Camplify, a Sydney, Australia-based peer-to-peer RV rental platform, is acquiring Germany-based
for is A$47.6 million. Camplify is also raising A$8.5 million to fund growth efforts including expansion of its insurance business. Camplify operates in Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Spain. The acquisition adds operations in Germany – which it says is Europe’s largest RV market – as well as in Austria and the Netherlands, doubling the size of Camplify’s business as measured by customers, fleet size, bookings and gross profit. (
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Parking, Traffic & Smart City:
ParkHub, a leading provider of parking software and payments solutions, announced the acquisition of
, a leading provider of parking software for commercial real estate owners, parking operators, and municipalities. Founded in 2014, Smarking is a SaaS-based solution that empowers its customers to effectively manage their parking assets through access to real-time data and analytics. The company supports more than 2,500 parking locations for commercial real estate owners, municipalities, hospitals, universities, airports, and parking operators across North America. Smarking is best known for its ease of use, strong customer service, and broad feature set of business intelligence, dynamic pricing, and digital permitting solutions. (
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Air Mobility & Space:
, formerly Airtonomy, announced the first installment of what will be more than $15 million in Series A funding. Thread's software enables customers to inspect critical infrastructure and deliver accurate analytics rapidly through a robust data and asset management platform. The Series A funding round is led by Badlands Capital. Thread is revolutionizing how companies manage asset lifecycle in the renewable energy, oil and gas, and utility sectors, among other industries. Thread is helping companies like Xcel Energy, a top 5 utility and arguably the industry leader in unmanned aerial systems innovation, enable more efficient, accurate and scalable delivery of asset inspections across their portfolio of renewable generation such as wind turbines, solar, and transmission. (
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, a German startup building electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, has secured $182 million for the second signing of its Series E round. That’s on top of the $170 million Volocopter raised for the same round in March at a $1.87 billion post-money valuation. (
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Supply Chain & Logistics:
announced a $5.3 million capital raise led by SignalFire and FLEX Capital. Founded in 2018, Newtrul is a digital freight matching platform that integrates with freight brokers to share available loads with carriers digitally in real time. (
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Micromobility:
Sequoia Capital's Chinese arm is leading a funding round in e-bike maker
at a post-investment valuation of $590 million, compared to a $200 million valuation in a fundraising eight months ago. (
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Have a great week,
Steve Greenfield
678.576.9972
