Hi ,
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:
TrueCar announced the acquisition of
. The acquisition is intended to accelerate TrueCar's plan to deliver a robust digital car buying and selling experience with its TrueCar+ marketplace. (
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, founded in 2019, has raised $500 million to fuel dealers making acquisitions. The company has an additional $1 billion in funding commitments that could come later. They aim to deploy the $500 million over the next three years by assisting dealers in acquiring property in buy-sell transactions or providing capital via sale-leasebacks of dealerships. (
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MotorK has acquired
, a European automotive retail solutions provider that serves approx. 400 car dealers and major automotive OEMs, including Jaguar, Land Rover, Opel, Stellantis and Subaru. (
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, a Vancouver, Wash.-based startup that sells “assisted reality” smart devices used by frontline workers, closed a $23.5 million round. Companies such as Ford, ExxonMobil, Goodyear, and others use RealWear’s devices. In a press release, the company said it is shifting “from a hardware-centric to a platform-centric company.” Qualcomm Ventures, Kopin and Columbia Ventures Corporation also invested in the Series C round led by The Foundry Group. (
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EBlock has acquired
(LAFCAA), an independent auction marketplace that has historically transacted over 15,000 vehicles annually. LAFCAA is a 34-acre top-tier auction facility located in Hammond, Louisiana, 60 miles north of New Orleans. (
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Finance & Insurance:
, a startup offering bundled home and auto insurance, has raised $147 million in Series C funding at a post-money valuation of $1.05 billion. Weatherford Capital led the round, which also included participation from existing and new backers such as Acrew Capital, American Family Ventures, Anthemis Group, Gaingels, Greycroft, HSCM Ventures, Narya, SignalFire and Tower IV. With this latest financing, Columbus, Ohio–based Branch has raised $229.5 million in total funding since its 2017 inception. (
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Autonomy & Robotics:
, a company developing radar-imaging sensor technologies, has raised $108 million in a Series E round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies, with participation from GLy Capital Management Limited, Atreides Management, LP, KdT Ventures, Battery Ventures, Bessemer Ventures, MoreVC, Regal Four and Claltech. (
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has deployed its autonomous weeding robotics at farms in California and Arizona, logging 15,000 commercial hours on vegetable farms, and capturing some 450 million scans of crops for its database. FarmWise has announced a $45 million raise, led by Fall Line Capital and Middleland Capital. GV, Taylor Farms, Calibrate Ventures, Playground Global, SVG Ventures | THRIVE and Wilbur Ellis also participated in the Series B, which brings FarmWise’s total equity raise to $65 million, to date. (
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, a construction robotics company that retrofits construction and mining heavy equipment to turn them into semi-autonomous robots, has raised $12M a Series A funding led by UP.Partners. (
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— which makes software and hardware for drones and other autonomous aircraft used by military and other government organizations — has raised $165 million in funding, $90 million in Series E equity and $75 million in debt. (
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Vehicle Assembly, Supply Chain & Logistics:
J.D. Power has acquired the data and predictive analytics business of
, the UK-based provider of global automobile service and warranty analytics. We Predict’s software, which is used by auto manufacturers and suppliers to project future component failures and future warranty claims and costs, will be leveraged by J.D. Power to enhance its vehicle quality and dependability analytics, expand repair cost forecasting and provide critical valuation data. (
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has raised another 500 million euros ($536.6 million) to help it build future Porsches, Bugattis, and Koenigseggs. SoftBank Group Corp. Vision Fund 2 and Goldman Sachs Asset Management led the latest round of funding, which also included Rimac shareholders Investindustrial and Porsche AG. (
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, a tech platform designed to connect car shippers and transporters, has secured $19 million in Series A financing from an investor group that includes The Larry H. Miller Company, Porsche Ventures and Hearst Ventures. (
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Electrification & Alternative Fuels:
, a sustainable infrastructure platform dedicated to accelerating the electrification of transportation, secured an additional $215 million of capital from new strategic partners Macquarie Asset Management and global infrastructure company Ferrovial, which are joining existing lead investor ArcLight Capital Partners. (
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Chinese electric vehicle company
filed to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the latest EV company to set its sights on the public markets. The company, which was founded in 2015, raised money from investors including Baidu, Inc. Capital and Tencent. It most recently raised a $152 million Series D led by Agile Group Holdings in November 2021 (
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Beam Global acquired thermal management battery company
, which ensures a battery doesn't get too hot or too cold. For Beam, that tech means using solar energy for charging EVs — not maintaining the equipment's battery. The all-stock transaction, in which Beam gave 10% of its equity for 100% of All Cell's, valued the deal at $15 million, though Beam says it could hit $33 million in value depending on share price and if All Cell hits certain revenue targets this year and next. (
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is working on a series of electrically propulsed hydrofoiling vessels and wants to rewrite the book of transportation, with nimble, fast-to-load, container-ship standard high-speed shipping vessels, with the goal of halving the cost of traditional air freight, at comparable speeds. The company raised $4.8 million from Lowercarbon Capital, Fifty Years and Soma Capital, and already has $90 million in pre-orders from ferry operators for their 220-seat electric passenger vessels. (
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Holman Growth Ventures has invested in
, a leading electric vehicle (EV) management software company. AmpUp’s innovative technology allows organizations and fleet operators to efficiently monitor and manage their EV charging infrastructure to simplify charging schedules and optimize energy consumption. (
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Micromobility:
Rockstart, a global early-stage investor, announced that it has led a €400K pre-Seed round of investment in London-based micromobility platform
, a data science and geospatial analytics company that predicts demand for micromobility companies to help them to get more rides, as well as optimises the route for fleet technicians, helping them complete the most tasks in the shortest amount of time. (
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Have a great week,
Steve Greenfield
678.576.9972
