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Hello readers: Welcome to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B.
A few items before jumping in. Policy corner is going on hiatus for a bit. A message from reporter Aria Alamalhodaei:
“For the time being, your favorite mini-roundup of transportation policy news will be taking an extended hiatus. I hope to be back with you in the second quarter of 2022! If you have tips or policy news you want to share, send it over to Kirsten or Rebecca. See you next year!””
Secondly, I (that’s me Kirsten) am taking a bit of holiday time and will see you next year! Wishing all my readers a happy holiday and good health in the coming year.
Tthe transportation world lost one of its leaders this week. Ryan Popple, a former active duty Army officer and early member of Tesla’s finance team who rose through the ranks before leaving to become a partner at Kleiner Perkins and CEO of electric bus manufacturer Proterra, died unexpectedly at 44 years old. He is survived by a wife and three children. Popple had recently left Proterra and had joined G2 Venture Partners.
As G2 Venture Partners wrote in its remembrance of Popple: “Ryan embodied entrepreneurial spirit and devoted his life to creating a better future. His leadership at Proterra was first and foremost about increasing access to affordable, sustainable solutions and shaping a zero-emission transportation future for the benefit of our planet and the health of our communities. His work as a partner at and Kleiner Perkins was dedicated to leading the sustainable transformation of industries. A former active duty officer in the U.S. Army, Ryan put country before self in uniform, and in civilian life.”
I first interviewed Ryan back in 2016. During that interview and the few times we spoke since then, I was always struck with the particular combination of passion and practicality that he brought to every conversation. Ryan, you will be missed.
Finally, Hazel Chapman, the co-founder of Lotus Cars and former British racing driver, died earlier this week at the age of 94.
As always, you can email me at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com to share thoughts, criticisms, opinions or tips. You also can send a direct message to me at Twitter — @kirstenkorosec
Welcome folks, let’s get right to it.
Tier, a Berlin-based micromobilty operator that just keeps growing, has acquired Wind Mobility’s Italian operations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but this is Tier’s second company purchase of late, and Wind’s second sale, as well. Wind also sold off its Israeli operations to Yandex, the Russian tech giant, a few months ago.
By the way, Tier also just released some stats about its London trial. Since the trial started in June, Tier scooters have seen more than 218,000 miles of trips on the road..
Zoomo, the Australian e-bike subscription platform for enterprise and gig economy delivery workers, has come out with a new utility e-bike, the Zoomo One, that it’s hoping will take the place of the humble moped. It can handle payloads of 88 lbs in the back and 40 lbs in the front, and can handle deliveries no matter the weather or terrain, according to the company.
Unagi, the e-scooter manufacturer, has announced the nationwide expansion of its all-access subscription plan, which allows subscribers to pay-as-you-go on a monthly plan for about $50 a month, or pay for an annual plan of $39 per month. No commitments, no cancel fees, no worries.
Gogoro launched a new urban battery swapping initiative that uses Gogoro-powered smart parking meters, co-developed with Shengming Technology. The company says the meters will provide cities with smart city tech that fast track the deployment of wireless connectivity and off-grid power for a range of users including parking management. The meters are currently being deployed in New Taipei City, Taiwan, and will be operational in early 2022, with an additional 6,000 meters rolling out across the country by the end of the year.
— Rebecca Bellan
Harley-Davidson announced that its taking electric motorcycle division LiveWire public through a merger with a blank check company sponsored by executives of AEA Investors and Bridges Fund Management.
First the details: the agreement is with special purpose acquisition company AEA-Bridges Impact Corp (ABIC). The deal is funded by $400 million that ABIC is holding in trust, a $100 million investment from Harley-Davidson and $100 million from Kymco. Harley-Davidson will own about 74% of the newly combined company. The SPAC shareholders will have a 17% ownership, with the remaining 4% being held by SPAC founders and Kymco. The combined company is expected to have an enterprise value of about $1.77 billion and post-money equity value of about $2.31 billion at closing. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2022.
What does this all mean? The deal will preserve much of Harley-Davidson’s ownership while giving LiveWire access to the capital that the public markets can provide and fold in Kymco as a key partner.
My prediction: if 2020 and 2021 were the years of the SPAC, 2022 will be the year of the public spin out. Watch for more legacy companies to follow Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire spin out strategy.
Other deals that got my attention this week …
Apex.ai, mobility software startup founded by Bosch veterans and automated systems engineers Jan Becker and Dejan Pangercic, raised a Series B $56.5 million round led by Orillion. AGCO, Canaan, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Airbus Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures, Continental and ZF also participated.. Apex has raised a total of $74 million to date, a figure that includes previously announced investments from Volvo Group Venture Capital, Toyota Ventures and HELLA Ventures. ZF is taking a 5% stake in Apex.
Gopuff is in the process of raising $1.5 billion, with a valuation of up to $40 billion.
Solvento, a platform that provides trucking companies with immediate access to capital, raised $4.5 million in funding led by Dynamo Ventures with participation from Wollef Ventures and Zenda Capital. The funding includes a $3 million debt facility from Marco Financial.
Vay, a company that is trying to get self-driving car services to market faster by pursuing a teledriven approach, has raised a $95 million Series B round to help it launch its first commercial service in Hamburg, Germany sometime in 2022.
Vertical Aerospace, an aerospace and technology company, started trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker EVTL.
Voly, a five-month-old Sydney-based startup that offers thousands of SKUs and promises deliveries in 15 minutes at a flat fee of A$2.99 ($2.14), has raised A$18 million (just under $13 million at today’s rates) in a seed round of funding that it will be using to expand its business to cities and towns across the country.
WeRide, the Chinese autonomous vehicle technology company, received a strategic investment from Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC Group). The companies did not disclose the terms.
It was a crazy week in the world of autonomous vehicles!
Aurora’s self-driving trucks are hauling goods for Uber Freight customers in Texas as part of a multiphase commercial pilot that aims to more closely integrate the two companies. Aurora is using the Uber Freight brokerage platform, which connects truck drivers with shippers that need cargo delivered, to haul freight for customers between Dallas and Houston. Aurora said it will expand routes as it adds more terminals.
Einride, an electric and autonomous freight company from Sweden, launched its debut NFT, the first-ever sketch of its autonomous Pod, as its first...
Hello readers: Welcome to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B.
A few items before jumping in. Policy corner is going on hiatus for a bit. A message from reporter Aria Alamalhodaei:
“For the time being, your favorite mini-roundup of transportation policy news will be taking an extended hiatus. I hope to be back with you in the second quarter of 2022! If you have tips or policy news you want to share, send it over to Kirsten or Rebecca. See you next year!””
Secondly, I (that’s me Kirsten) am taking a bit of holiday time and will see you next year! Wishing all my readers a happy holiday and good health in the coming year.
Tthe transportation world lost one of its leaders this week. Ryan Popple, a former active duty Army officer and early member of Tesla’s finance team who rose through the ranks before leaving to become a partner at Kleiner Perkins and CEO of electric bus manufacturer Proterra, died unexpectedly at 44 years old. He is survived by a wife and three children. Popple had recently left Proterra and had joined G2 Venture Partners.
As G2 Venture Partners wrote in its remembrance of Popple: “Ryan embodied entrepreneurial spirit and devoted his life to creating a better future. His leadership at Proterra was first and foremost about increasing access to affordable, sustainable solutions and shaping a zero-emission transportation future for the benefit of our planet and the health of our communities. His work as a partner at and Kleiner Perkins was dedicated to leading the sustainable transformation of industries. A former active duty officer in the U.S. Army, Ryan put country before self in uniform, and in civilian life.”
I first interviewed Ryan back in 2016. During that interview and the few times we spoke since then, I was always struck with the particular combination of passion and practicality that he brought to every conversation. Ryan, you will be missed.
Finally, Hazel Chapman, the co-founder of Lotus Cars and former British racing driver, died earlier this week at the age of 94.
As always, you can email me at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com to share thoughts, criticisms, opinions or tips. You also can send a direct message to me at Twitter — @kirstenkorosec
Micromobbin’
Welcome folks, let’s get right to it.
Tier, a Berlin-based micromobilty operator that just keeps growing, has acquired Wind Mobility’s Italian operations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but this is Tier’s second company purchase of late, and Wind’s second sale, as well. Wind also sold off its Israeli operations to Yandex, the Russian tech giant, a few months ago.
By the way, Tier also just released some stats about its London trial. Since the trial started in June, Tier scooters have seen more than 218,000 miles of trips on the road..
Zoomo, the Australian e-bike subscription platform for enterprise and gig economy delivery workers, has come out with a new utility e-bike, the Zoomo One, that it’s hoping will take the place of the humble moped. It can handle payloads of 88 lbs in the back and 40 lbs in the front, and can handle deliveries no matter the weather or terrain, according to the company.
Unagi, the e-scooter manufacturer, has announced the nationwide expansion of its all-access subscription plan, which allows subscribers to pay-as-you-go on a monthly plan for about $50 a month, or pay for an annual plan of $39 per month. No commitments, no cancel fees, no worries.
Gogoro launched a new urban battery swapping initiative that uses Gogoro-powered smart parking meters, co-developed with Shengming Technology. The company says the meters will provide cities with smart city tech that fast track the deployment of wireless connectivity and off-grid power for a range of users including parking management. The meters are currently being deployed in New Taipei City, Taiwan, and will be operational in early 2022, with an additional 6,000 meters rolling out across the country by the end of the year.
— Rebecca Bellan
Deal of the week
Harley-Davidson announced that its taking electric motorcycle division LiveWire public through a merger with a blank check company sponsored by executives of AEA Investors and Bridges Fund Management.
First the details: the agreement is with special purpose acquisition company AEA-Bridges Impact Corp (ABIC). The deal is funded by $400 million that ABIC is holding in trust, a $100 million investment from Harley-Davidson and $100 million from Kymco. Harley-Davidson will own about 74% of the newly combined company. The SPAC shareholders will have a 17% ownership, with the remaining 4% being held by SPAC founders and Kymco. The combined company is expected to have an enterprise value of about $1.77 billion and post-money equity value of about $2.31 billion at closing. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2022.
What does this all mean? The deal will preserve much of Harley-Davidson’s ownership while giving LiveWire access to the capital that the public markets can provide and fold in Kymco as a key partner.
My prediction: if 2020 and 2021 were the years of the SPAC, 2022 will be the year of the public spin out. Watch for more legacy companies to follow Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire spin out strategy.
Other deals that got my attention this week …
Apex.ai, mobility software startup founded by Bosch veterans and automated systems engineers Jan Becker and Dejan Pangercic, raised a Series B $56.5 million round led by Orillion. AGCO, Canaan, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Airbus Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures, Continental and ZF also participated.. Apex has raised a total of $74 million to date, a figure that includes previously announced investments from Volvo Group Venture Capital, Toyota Ventures and HELLA Ventures. ZF is taking a 5% stake in Apex.
Gopuff is in the process of raising $1.5 billion, with a valuation of up to $40 billion.
Solvento, a platform that provides trucking companies with immediate access to capital, raised $4.5 million in funding led by Dynamo Ventures with participation from Wollef Ventures and Zenda Capital. The funding includes a $3 million debt facility from Marco Financial.
Vay, a company that is trying to get self-driving car services to market faster by pursuing a teledriven approach, has raised a $95 million Series B round to help it launch its first commercial service in Hamburg, Germany sometime in 2022.
Vertical Aerospace, an aerospace and technology company, started trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker EVTL.
Voly, a five-month-old Sydney-based startup that offers thousands of SKUs and promises deliveries in 15 minutes at a flat fee of A$2.99 ($2.14), has raised A$18 million (just under $13 million at today’s rates) in a seed round of funding that it will be using to expand its business to cities and towns across the country.
WeRide, the Chinese autonomous vehicle technology company, received a strategic investment from Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC Group). The companies did not disclose the terms.
Notable news and other tidbits
Autonomous vehicles
It was a crazy week in the world of autonomous vehicles!
Aurora’s self-driving trucks are hauling goods for Uber Freight customers in Texas as part of a multiphase commercial pilot that aims to more closely integrate the two companies. Aurora is using the Uber Freight brokerage platform, which connects truck drivers with shippers that need cargo delivered, to haul freight for customers between Dallas and Houston. Aurora said it will expand routes as it adds more terminals.
Einride, an electric and autonomous freight company from Sweden, launched its debut NFT, the first-ever sketch of its autonomous Pod, as its first...