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:
Australian online auto classifieds firm carsales.com.au has acquired the remaining 51% stake in U.S.-based
for $809 million, a year after buying 49% in the Virginia-based online advertising company. (
)
Financing firm goeasy Ltd. is buying a minority interest in online used-car retailer
, as the sub-prime lender looks to increase its stake in the Canadian auto finance market. (
)
Shared Mobility & Subscription:
Car subscription software start-up
has raised $3.6 million in its first external capital raise, led by early-stage venture capital firm Tidal Ventures, with participation from Upswell Ventures and Luxem. (
)
, which provides transportation solutions for companies, has closed a $12 million Series A led by Iron Gate Capital and Renewal Funds with participation from Employment Technology Fund, JobsOhio, Seamless Capital and others. (
)
Six-thousand moto-taxi drivers in Togo and Benin can now access vehicle financing after
- Africa's Super App and the IFC - International Finance Corporation signed a $10-million partnership. (
)
Electrification & Alternative Fuels:
Sweden’s
, whose customers include BMW and Volkswagen Group, is planning to go public within the next two years as battery demand for electric vehicles booms. (
)
Volkswagen AG is close to selling a minority stake in its U.S. electric-vehicle charge business,
, to an arm of Siemens AG, a deal that would value the network at more than $2 billion. (
)
, a startup attempting to make EVs more affordable, raised $18 million in seed funding led by Human Capital and Giant Ventures. Tenet says its EV loan offering cuts monthly payments by $200 on average. It does so by letting customers “defer up to 10-25% of their loan amount to the end of their term.” If you’re accepted for a loan via Tenet, the company will point you toward eligible dealers and marketplaces. Tenet also expects its partners to point customers in its direction. (
)
., a pioneer of emission-free, energy-dense ammonia power solutions, has raised $46 million in additional capital to further scale its highly efficient ammonia-to-power technology, with plans to apply its systems to an 18-wheel tractor trailer as well as an ocean cargo ship. (
)
UK-based
has raised £15 million (US$18.4 million) from five new investors to help scale up its second life-based battery energy storage system (BESS) solution. Financing has been secured from Caterpillar Venture Capital Inc., the Hinduja Group Limited, Mercuria Energy Trading S.A., OurCrowd and Volvo Energy, part of manufacturing firm Volvo Group. (
)
Micromobility:
, a São Paulo-based motorcycle rental startup, has raised $30 million in equity in a Series B round of funding.The company, which aims to give independent couriers a way to work for logistics and food delivery apps, also secured $10 million in debt financing. Most, if not all, the workers have little to no, or bad, credit, so purchasing a motorcycle outright is not an option. (
)
E-mobility insurance company
has secured funding from Porsche Ventures, bringing its Series A investment to $13.5 million. Laka will use the new capital and network opportunities to help its European expansion in e-scooters, e-mopeds, and eventually electric cars to better serve European partnerships, including manufacturers, retailers, and leasing businesses. (
)
Micromobility operator
has closed a €6.1 million funding round to expand its e-scooter and e-bike operations in Ireland, Britain and Europe. The company also plans to expand its growth and operations team. (
)
Supply Chain & Logistics:
Seattle-based truckload carrier
has raised $8 million through seed equity and credit financing to begin expanding its single-lane relay strategy on the West Coast. Creating a relay system for specific transportation lanes can help solve a number of problems with retaining and recruiting truckers but also can help eliminate industry waste. (
)
Air Mobility & Space:
, a Germany-based delivery drone manufacturer and service provider, raised $42m in Series A extension funding.The round, tripling the company’s total equity raise to more than $60m to date, was led by REWE Group, SALVIA GmbH and XAI technologies, which were joined by ITOCHU Corporation and previous backers Futury Capital and Xplorer Capital. (
)
Software startup
has raised $15 million to expand its suite of space project management solutions. Existing investor Lux Capital led the Series A funding round to support Epsilon3’s web-based platform, which provides collaboration tools that are tailor-made for spacecraft manufacturing and operations. (
)
Have a great week,
Steve Greenfield
678.576.9972
