🚀Unveiling Trends Shaping the Future of Mobility

September 11, 2024
10:59 am

Welcome to the Paddock, your VIP access to unique insights from some of the best mobility founders out there and curated news and trends reshaping the mobility sector globally.

—Rodolfo, Enrique, Cecy, and Bernardo.

💡If you know of any startup that is also committed to #reshapingmobility by being more efficient, safer, and environmentally friendly reach us here.

🏁Come visit The Paddock to see the full portfolio of P.V. companies.

Portfolio news

⚡Congratulations to the Rhythmos.io team for being recognized by Darcy Partners, the leading provider of technology-focused market intelligence to the energy sector, as one of the top innovators across the power and utilities value chain in 2023.

⚡Kudos to Lunewave Inc. for being featured in Plastic Omnium’s latest whitepaper, “Symposium Innovations for the Next Generation of Mobility,” in collaboration with the MIT Industrial Liaison Program and industry leaders.

⚡We are thrilled to announce the inauguration of another PowerNode™ EV Fast-Charging Station by Electric Era in Boston. This marks a significant step forward in their mission to electrify roads across the United States. We are incredibly excited about their ongoing journey.

Interesting Reads

🔍 Evolving Mobility: Trends in the Spotlight

In 2023, the mobility sector witnessed exciting advancements and challenges. This included the surge in micromobility, increased EV presence, and a growing focus on self-driving vehicles. Additionally, there was enthusiasm for emerging technologies like generative AI, seen as potential game-changers in automotive marketing and R&D.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. EV sales faced setbacks in certain regions, and AV testing encountered challenges, partly due to lingering skepticism among consumers. Also, some concerns persisted regarding the battery range for EVs. Despite these hurdles, the momentum towards electric vehicles remained strong, particularly with Chinese brands expanding into global markets. Car manufacturers across China, Europe, and the US continued to introduce advanced self-driving vehicles, incorporating cutting-edge L3 driving technology.

So, as we gear up for 2024, McKinsey’s 2023 Mobility Report reveals some interesting trends that are going to keep on shaping how we get around.

Changing Consumers Preferences. According to the McKinsey Mobility Consumer Pulse Survey, while private cars remain the primary mode of travel, 40% of respondents now utilize alternative transportation methods, such as e-bikes. Moreover, 62% of participants are altering their travel habits due to concerns about sustainability.

EV Demand. Worldwide demand for EV passenger cars is projected to skyrocket from 2021 to 2030, with annual unit sales soaring to around 40.0 million from 6.5 million. China remains the global leader in e-mobility, thanks to its integrated value chain, resulting in low prices for domestic OEMs. Other nations may benefit from developing similar value chains to expedite the transition to EVs due to the price advantage they offer.

AV’s. It is projected that widespread adoption of vehicles with L4 capabilities will take place around 2026. Initially, applications will focus on safer environments like autonomous parking, followed by highway driving. However, more complex scenarios such as urban driving will necessitate longer timelines, with deployment at scale expected to take up to an additional 6 years.

New types of Mobility. The global micromobility market is anticipated to hit $360 billion by 2030, largely fueled by e-bike sales, with Europe commanding a 40% share of that value. However, regions like LATAM are forecasted to contribute only 3% to the market’s value. Despite a slight 8% decrease in investment growth compared to 2022, Air Mobility is experiencing a surge. The number of deals and relationships within the supply chain has risen, alongside an increase in commercial drone flights and new regulatory approvals.

AI Technologies. AI is revolutionizing industries globally, and Mobility is no exception. With its surplus of manual processes, the industry is prime for AI integration to streamline operations and address longstanding challenges. Currently, mobility companies are prioritizing investments in applied AI over other cutting-edge technologies.

To conclude, we would like to highlight some key data regarding investment in the Mobility market. The reconfiguration of the automotive value chain to support EV production and the extensive testing and refinement needed for AV software development are highly complex and capital-intensive endeavors, which investors have recognized. Below we present capital invested and deal count in the mobility space per quarter since 2022.

As seen above, funding experienced a significant decline in Q1’23 compared to the same period last year, with a further decrease in Q2’23. However, towards the end of 2023, there was a notable uptick in momentum in mobility investment, which we anticipate will continue into 2024. We are enthusiastic about the prospects ahead and highly optimistic about these transformative trends reshaping the mobility landscape.

Some deals we found interesting

🚀 Amber, a Bay Area startup that launched an aftermarket Tesla extended warranty product, raised $3.18 million in a seed round co-led by Era and Primer Sazze, with Alcove Fund, Virta Ventures, Global Millennial Capital and Root & Shoot Ventures joining. (20.Mar.2024)

🚀 Avancargo, an Argentine logistics platform, raised USD500k from Globant, Murchison and Puerto Asis. (13.Mar.2024)

🚀 Basemark, a Helsinki-based startup that is focused on developing augmented reality, advanced driver assistance visualizations, and human-machine interface graphics for the automotive space, raised a $23.9 million Series B round led by ETF Partners, with Tesi, Constructor Capital, Business Finland, and the European Innovation Council also stepping up. (9.Apr.2024)

🚀 Carrar, an Israel-based provider of battery modules and thermal management systems for electric vehicles, raised $5.3 million in Series A funding from new investors Salida B.V., OurCrowd, NextGear, and existing investors Gentherm, Next Leap Ventures, Dive Digital, and others. (9.Apr.2024)

🚀 Champ Titles, a Cleveland, Ohio-based provider of digital vehicle title and registration services, raised $18 million in Series C funding. Point72 Ventures led the round and was joined by existing investors W.R. Berkley Corporation, Eos Venture Partners, Guidewire Software, Rev1 Ventures, and others. (27.Mar.2024)

🚀 Coast, a NY-based fleet management startup, raised $25 million in equity from investors including Accel, Avid Ventures and Insight Partners and a $67 million debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank and TriplePoint Capital.. (21.Mar.2024)

🚀 Cyvl.ai, a Somerville, MA-based startup that uses sensors, lidar, cameras, and AI to create digital twins of transportation infrastructure such as roads in order to facilitate management and repair, raised a $6 million round led by Companyon Ventures, with Argon Ventures, AeroX Ventures, and Alumni Ventures as well as previous investors MassVentures, Launch Capital, and RiverPark Ventures also taking part. (27.Mar.2024)

🚀 Ember, a Scotland-based startup that operates an all-electric intercity bus service, secured £11 million in a round led by Inven Capital, 2150 and AENU. (26.Mar.2024)

🚀 Freto, a Brazilian freight marketplace that spun out of Edenred, an international corporate services platform, raised a $2.4 million round from Edenred, Corrêa da Silva and Stumpf families, and angel Christiano Galló (Quartz Investimentos). (25.Mar.2024)

🚀 Fuel Me, an Illinois-based fuel procurement and management platform, raised $18 million in Series A funding. Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Tribeca Venture Partners led the round and were joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Interplay Venture Capital, FJ Labs, and others. (24.Mar.2024)

🚀 Indigo Technologies, a Boston-based robotics focused smart EV OEM announced it has received strategic investment from Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn). (25.Mar.2024)

🚀 Instacarro, a Brazilian used vehicles marketplace raised $10.8M in a mix of debt and equity from Fasanara Capital, J Ventures, FJ Labs, and Rise Capital. Bamboo led the debt part of the deal. (9.Apr.2024)

🚀 Ionobell, a San Francisco-based startup San Francisco startup that is using recycled silicon to enhance electric vehicle battery capacity, raised a $3.9 million seed extension. Investors included Dynamo Ventures and Trucks VC. (26.Mar.2024)

🚀 Iron Sheepdog, a Williamsburg, VA-based startup that develops fleet management tools for short haul trucking operators, raised a $10 million Series B round led by SJF Ventures, with Grand Ventures and Supply Chain Ventures also pitching in. (25.Mar.2024)

🚀 Leasy, a Peruvian fintech that offers financing to ride-hailing drivers in Latin America via a subscription model raised a $28M Series A round in equity and debt. The round was led by Magma Partners with Entangle Group, DeBa Ventures, Noa Capital, and Grupo CAPEM, also participating alongside other investors from Latin America, the US, and Europe. (22.Mar.2024)

🚀 NX Technologies, a Cologne, Germany-based developer of the bezahl.de platform for automotive payment management, raised €22 million in Series B funding. PayPal Ventures led the round and were joined by Seaya Ventures, Walter Ventures, and existing investor Motive Ventures. (20.Mar.2024)

🚀 Pelikan Mobility, a Paris-based commercial fleet platform raised €4 million from investors including Pale Blue Dot, First and Seedcamp. (20.Mar.2024)

🚀 Platform Science, a San Diego-based startup whose software helps trucking companies manage their fleets more efficiently, raised a $125 million round. Investors included 8VC, NewRoad Capital Partners, Prologis Ventures, Activant Capital, Manhattan Ventures Partners, and others. (9.Apr.2024)

🚀 Stress-Free Auto Care, a California-based network of tech-enabled automotive service shops in California and Texas, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Forerunner Ventures led the round and was joined by others. (20.Mar.2024)

🚀 Yoshi Mobility, a Nashville, Tenn.-based automotive mobility services provider, raised $26 million in Series C funding from General Motors Ventures, Bridgestone Americas, Universal Motors Agencies, Shikra Limited, and others. (10.Apr.2024)