Hi ,
Here are the past week's AutoTech and Mobility transactions. For a more detailed monthly recap, check out our
. Enjoy!
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Last Week's Auto-Tech Transactions:
Dealer Tech & Auto Commerce:
a digital retailer of used vehicles, officially launched earlier this month with a $1.8 million pre-seed round. The funding was backed by four venture capital funds — M25, KCRise Fund, Lancaster Investments and Nelnet — as well as supporters from the BacklotCars community. Whipz specializes in higher-mileage, affordable cars. (
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, Australia’s leading marketplace for vehicles, industrial, and salvage assets, has entered into an agreement to sell a majority share of its business to funds advised by Apax Partners, a global private equity firm. Privately owned since 1964, the business is now at an inflection point and the family has decided now is the right time to bring in outside investment, utilizing the additional capital to fuel future growth. (
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(Nasdaq: AUTO) has entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by One Planet Group, under which the Purchaser will pay a cash purchase price of $0.39 per share of AutoWeb. Payam Zamani, One Planet Group’s CEO, will assume the role of President and CEO of AutoWeb, Inc., and Jared Rowe will transition out of the business. (
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The Reynolds and Reynolds Company has acquired
, which offers dealerships cybersecurity and information technology products and services. The transaction price was not disclosed. (
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Finance & Insurance:
, which claims to be "the world’s first mobility fintech," has secured a financing facility totalling R300 million (US$20 million) from Absa Corporate and Investment Banking, making this the first bank relationship for the two-year-old company. Moove provides revenue-based vehicle financing to mobility entrepreneurs and is democratizing access to vehicle ownership, creating sustainable employment opportunities to empower those previously excluded from financial services. (
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Autonomy, Robotics & AI:
France-based
, a company that claims to be a leading French name in the autonomous vehicle market and in smart shared mobility solutions, has signed a financial arrangement with Negma Group for a sum of €36M. (
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Luminar Technologies, the lidar company that went public via SPAC in 2020, is making a strategic investment of an undisclosed amount in
, an auto tech startup co-founded by Eric Li, founder of China’s largest private automaker GEELY. (
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Electrification & Alternative Fuels:
, a German maker of compact electric vehicles, is going public through a merger with a blank-check firm to create a company valued at $913 million, including debt. The deal will provide e.GO with about $285 million of proceeds, assuming investors don’t redeem their shares. That includes $235 million from Athena Consumer Acquisition Corp. and $50 million in debt. (
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Vehicle Assembly, Supply Chain & Logistics:
, an automotive logistics company based at the Atlanta Tech Village, has received a $2 million raise from Atlanta Ventures. Launched in 2021, the startup provides a platform that cuts costs and emissions of shipping vehicles to their destinations by bundling them. Carpool Logistics connects vehicle shippers with auto haulers that have available space on their trucks. It also aims to provide transparency to consumers with the condition and location of the ordered vehicles. (
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Vehicle Connectivity:
, a London, UK-based provider of mobility products for visually impaired people, raised over £1.5M in funding. Backers included institutional investors and more than 400 individuals. (
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(NASDAQ: WEJO), a global leader in Smart Mobility cloud and software solutions for connected, electric, and autonomous vehicle data, announced a self-arranged $15.9 Million private investment in public equity (“PIPE”) investment in Wejo, with significant investment coming from Sompo Light Vortex, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sompo Holdings, one of Wejo’s major commercial partners as well as current investors and certain members of Wejo’s Board of Directors. (
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Air Mobility & Space:
Hydrogen-electric plane developer
announced an additional $30 million in funding from both new and returning investors, including International Airlines Group (IAG). The aviation company’s Series B funding round now totals $68 million, which will be used to get its forty to eighty seat planes into operation by 2026. ZeroAvia is a zero-emission aviation company focused specifically on planes that utilize hydrogen-electric propulsion. (
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, one of the world’s only companies specializing in hybrid-electric aerospace propulsion systems, has announced a $12M Series A round led by RTX Ventures (Raytheon Technologies). (
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Micromobility:
, which was founded in May 2020, closed out a $5.4 million Series A, led by Vektor Partners, a VC firm focusing on the future of mobility. The startup will use the funds to continue building on the next generation of PathPilot, Drover’s IoT module that contains a camera and a compute system that analyzes visual data and issues commands directly to the scooter. Drover has tested and sold its attachable IoT module to the likes of Spin, Voi, Helbiz, Beam and Fenix to help operators improve scooter safety and, most importantly, win city permits. (
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Swedish micromobility subscription service
has raised approximately SEK 45m (around £3.6m), which it will use to expand into new European markets. MOVS was set up in May 2021 as a Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) offering where customers can take out a monthly subscription for a bike, e-bike, e-moped or e-scooter. (
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Have a great week,
Steve Greenfield
678.576.9972
