Just as we did last year, we want to share our predictions of the trends we expect to see pan out during 2022 in the mobility space. We were hoping to do this next week after CES, but given the status of the pandemic, we decided to put our health first and skip the event (again)!
The context for 2022 is a complicated one given the uncertainty around COVID and what it may bring this year. Also, the macroeconomic context is not as rosy as it was a year back, as we are now facing inflationary pressures and high expectations of interest rate hikes. We expect the supply chain issues to persist for most part of the year, adding another uncertain element to the equation, not to mention the continued semiconductor shortage.
Having said this, we remain overall bullish in our sector and expect many of the ongoing trends to continue into the new year and beyond fueled by more access to capital than ever before and a growing stable of late-stage companies that could potentially enter the public markets, uncertainty permitting.
With this as context, lights out and away we go:
– Given the substantial amount of dry powder and new mobility-focused funds being launched (hello to our friends at Assembly Ventures, Autotech, Dynamo, Eurazeo, First Move Capital, Fontinalis, Maniv, Trucks, et.al.), we expect 2022 to be another record year in number of deals and remain at or near the levels experienced during 2021, which as of late November last year, registered $75 billion across more than 1,300 deals, according to Pitchbook, representing a 40% increase versus 2020 in dollar terms
– Nontraditional investors and CVCs will continue to actively take part in the space, not only in late-stage deals, but also venturing into earlier stages as disruption continues to change the entire industry
– Continuing the hot streak that Latam is in, we expect more Latam-based mobility players to flourish during 2022 and attract capital to provide much-needed access to services and solutions to democratize mobility in the region
– Expect some consolidation in different sectors within the mobility space. The “fewer but larger deals” smells like consolidation across the board in EVs, AVs, sensors, and even insurtech as incumbents try new distribution, underwriting and claims processing channels and technologies
– Micromobility’s raise will continue as people get more comfortable riding e-bikes, scooters and mopeds. We believe that 2022 will be all about private ownership – if enough supply can hit the market – as people across the world make use of the rebates and discounts encouraging this mode of transportation
– We continue optimistic on shared Micromobility as well, with the main roadblocks (other than HW availability) being insurance policies and city permits limiting or restricting the operations of smaller players around the world. ADAS features will also start permeating the Micromobility space, providing another potential business model and differentiation play to win cities’ approval
– We also expect to see more custom-made LEV solutions for commercial applications to electrify logistics and other services around mobility
– We’ll continue to see AV deployments (ie. safety driver in place) in different regions in the world, mainly China and Europe and perhaps to a limited extent, some states in the US mostly in the trucking space
– Driver management systems (DMS) will start delivering on their promise providing real value to fleets, not only to comply with new regulations, but to improve and make their operations more efficient
– Automation will continue its strong push in factories and warehouses around the world, bringing investment into the robotics space to new records, both in hardware and operating platforms allowing for the orchestration of robots for different use cases
– Delivery robots will continue to invade our sidewalks for the time being until more regulation is put in place
– Continued transition towards EVs, with more consumer models hitting the market and fleets continuing to electrify their fleets slowly but surely
– More announcements around capacity being put in place to secure the materials required for the EV transition
– New and innovative solutions coming out to provide different charging options for people that don’t have at-home charging or easy access to off-street charging
– Bigger focus on second life and recycling of batteries, with more companies raising capital to position themselves in this space
– Tough year in terms of growth for marketplaces and subscription-based car services as car supply remains a top challenge throughout the year
– More corporates providing mobility benefits and solutions to their workforce as hybrid work models flourish around the world
This is in no way an exhaustive list although we did try to touch a little on most of the subsectors within mobility where we are focusing on.
As for us, we will remain disciplined in our investment approach and continue to be very diligent as we continue building out our investment portfolio – with a long-term focus. We are actively sourcing new investment opportunities across the Americas, Europe and Israel and look forward to partnering with bold founders reshaping the mobility space.
Happy 2022 everyone, stay safe and keep on moving! #futureinmotion #reshapingmobility #proezaventures
