Dealer Tech & Vehicle Commerce:
KAR Global has reached a definitive agreement to sell all of its ADESA physical auction business in the U.S. to Carvana for $2.2 billion. The all-cash deal includes all auction sales, operations and staff at 56 ADESA U.S. vehicle logistics centers in the U.S., and exclusive use of the ADESA.com marketplace in U.S. (Link to article)Publicly-traded E INC and sub-brand EBlock have acquired FastLane Auto Exchange, an independent dealer-only auction that transacted approximately 24,000 vehicles in 2021. FastLane is a midwest-focused, full-service auction marketplace located in Mount Morris, Michigan, 75 miles from Detroit and the Canadian border. (Link to article)Stable Insurance has raised $3.3 million in funding, led by MLTPLY with participation from Brooklyn Bridge Ventures and multiple angel investors. Stable Insurance is an insurtech startup using technology and new data sources to create fit-for-purpose insurance for owners of rideshare and carshare vehicles. Working with ILS Capital Management as its insurance partner, the company has automated large parts of the data collection, underwriting, administration, and claims processes. (Link to article)Nirvana Insurance, a technology-driven platform that modernizes commercial fleet insurance using vast amounts of data from sensors on trucks, closed a $22 million Series A funding round, bringing the total raised to more than $25 million. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with additional participation from General Catalyst, Elad Gil, Fidji Simo (CEO, Instacart), Spike Lipkin (CEO, Newfront), and Sam Hodges (CEO, Vouch). (Link to article)ACV Auctions has acquired Drivably, reinforcing its continued focus on helping dealers appraise and source consumers more effectively. Drivably, founded in 2018, empowers dealers to engage with consumers interested in selling their vehicles. The combination of Drivably’s dedicated engagement tools with ACV’s proprietary condition-adjusted machine learning-powered pricing engine creates a compelling solution for dealers to source consumer inventory. (Link to article)
Aftermarket:
Bridgestone Americas announced a minority investment in Yoshi. Yoshi is a last-mile delivery platform focused on car care services for consumer, fleet, and corporate customers. The new partnership will accelerate both companies’ ability to meet the needs of car owners through the expansion of convenient and contactless vehicle-related services brought directly to customers’ homes and workplaces. (Link to article)
Shared Mobility & Subscription:
RideCo, a Canadian company offering cities on-demand transit tech, closed a $15.8 million (CAD $20 million) Series A round, led by Eclipse Ventures. The company, whose biggest competitor is Via, runs a software-as-a-service business model. Similar to Via — which also provides transit planning tech from its acquisition of Remix — RideCo provides transit agencies and fleet operators with the underlying software and app so that they can, in turn, provide on-demand transit options to cities, RideCo’s biggest customer. RideCo also provides the service to corporations looking for a dynamic way to shuttle employees. (Link to article)Lima-based LEASY, a startup that offers automobile financing to ride-hailing drivers in Latin America via a subscription model, has secured $2 million in equity and $15 million in debt. Magma Partners led its seed round, and other investors include INCA Ventures, BuenTrip Ventures, GRAM, Otto Holdings and Nucleus EMV, among others. It is also part of the Endeavor ScaleUp program. (Link to article)
Electrification:
Gouach’s €3.3 million funding round was led by Breega and saw participation from the New Aquitaine region as well as Bpifrance. Gouach has designed, developed, and will manufacture a solderless battery specifically intended for usage in e-bikes, e-scooters, and small electric vehicles. The company claims that any repairs to its product can be made in less than 10 minutes. (Link to article)Revel, the Brooklyn-based startup that first made a name for itself with its iconic shared blue electric mopeds in New York City, has raised a $126 million Series B in a funding round led by BlackRock Renewable Power. Toyota Ventures, an existing investor, also participated in the round, along with The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Ventures, Shell Ventures, Broadscale Group, the St Baker Energy Innovation Fund and an account managed by Knighthead Capital Management, LLC. (Link to article)
Autonomy:
Hong Jing Drive, an autonomous driving solutions provider based in China, has completed a financing of over 100 million yuan ($15.77 million), featuring exclusive investment from Prosperity7 Ventures, a diversified venture capital fund under aramco. (Link to article)
Vehicle Assembly, Supply Chain & Logistics:
Tenneco, the supplier of mufflers and other car parts, will be acquired by affiliates of Apollo Global Management Inc. in a $1.6 billion deal to take the auto parts supplier private. The deal, expected to close in the second half of the year, has an enterprise value of $7.1 billion including debt. The sale wraps a tumultuous stretch for Tenneco, which has endured activist investor pressure, board shakeups and an 85 percent drop in the stock price over the past five years. More recently, semiconductor shortages caused by the pandemic have wreaked havoc on the automotive industry. (Link to article)U.S. truck engine maker Cummins Inc. is acquiring truck parts supplier Meritor for $2.58 billion in cash in a bid to beef up its electric and hybrid vehicle parts offerings amid a boom in demand for climate-friendly transport. (Link to article)Volkswagen AG is in advanced discussions with Porsche Automobil Holding SE, the group’s largest shareholder, about a potential IPO of the sports car brand and the two have negotiated a framework agreement as the basis for preparing such a step, VW said in a statement. The conclusion of an agreement must be approved by the management board and supervisory board, VW said, adding a final decision had not yet been taken. (Link to article)
Micromobility:
Zoomo, an Australian startup that builds utility e-bikes for delivery workers, has raised an additional $20 million in equity to close out its Series B round. The raise was led by Collaborative Fund, with strategic investors MUFG Innovation Partners, SG Fleet, Akuna Capital and WIND Ventures also joining the round. (Link to article)Tembici, a Brazilian micro-mobility technology startup, announced its debut in Colombia, with an investment of over BRL 53 million to set up its bike rental system, starting in the capital Bogotá, a city that is already a reference in urban mobility and intermodal integration. Tembici boosts its presence in Latin America, where it already operates in Chile and Argentina. Tembici won the Bogotá city government’s tender with a proposal for a substantial investment in technology and electric bikes: there are 3,300 bikes, 1,500 of them e-bikes, and at least 300 stations. (Link to article)
Beam Mobility, a Singaporean shared micromobility operator, has raised $93 million in a Series B round to accelerate growth into new countries in Asia. The fresh capital, which brings its total funding raised to $135 million, was led by Affirma Capital with participation from Sequoia Capital India, Hana Ventures, ICT Capital, EDBI Pte Ltd, AC Ventures, RTP Global and Momentum Ventures. (Link to article)
