A daily newsletter summarizing recent activity & interesting start-ups globally
RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – ELECRTIC VEHICLES
- Microvast Power Systems raises $400M in a funding round from CITIC Securities, CDH Investment and National Venture Capital. Link
- Alta Motors raises $27M in a combined Series B and Series C round to boost production of electric motorcycles. Link
- ChargePoint raises additional $24M to support European expansion of its electric vehicle charging network. Link
- SeaBubbles raises $10.9M from the MAIF Avenir investment fund to develop eco-friendly boats for urban transit. Link
- Fastned, a network of electric vehicle charging stations raises $8.7M in debt. Link
- Unu, a developer of smart electric scooters, raises $8M in a funding round led by Capnamic Ventures and Iris Capital. Link
- Fallbrook Technologies, a developer of transmission systems for vehicles, secures $8M in debt financing. Link
- Ubco, a developer of electric farm bikes, raises $3.95M in funding. Link
- Twenty Two Motors, an electric scooter developer, raises $1.6M in pre-series A round funding. Link
- Riversimple, a hydrogen fuel cell car maker, announces the closure of its first crowdfunding round at $1.4M. Link
- Free Form Factory, a developer of electric watercraft, raises $500k in seed financing. Link
- Zunum Aero, a hybrid electric airplane developer, receives investment from JetBlue & Boeing. Link
- Suzuki, Toshiba and Denso to invest $18.7M to set up factory for producing automotive lithium-ion battery packs in India. Link
- Scottish Government announces a further $3.75M for green buses roll-out in the country. Link
SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND
EcoG (2017, Munich) – EcoG is working on developing a cloud-based solution to enable charging control, shared revenue streams and value-added services in electric vehicle fast charging. The company claims to be working on a combined charging system control stack which will combine data from the vehicle, the local user, the grid and the operator.
LEADER BOARD – ELECRTIC VEHICLES
Automaker – Horizontal
Polaris Industries (1954, Medina, IPO) – Designs and manufactures on-road electric/hybrid vehicles, snowmobiles, off-road vehicles and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). Went Public in September 1987.
FDG Electric Vehicles (1990, Hong Kong, IPO) – Manufactures electric vehicles for passenger and commercial use. Also manufactures battery packs and accessories. Went Public in November 2005.
Automaker – Cars
Tesla (2003, Palo Alto, IPO) – Designs and manufactures electric cars and residential energy storage products. Backed by Google, DFJ, VantagePoint Capital Partners, Compass Technology partners, Capricorn Invest Group, Daimler, Panasonic, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Went Public in July 2010.
NIO (2014, Shanghai, $1.1B) – Develops electric supercars. Backed by Baidu, Tencent, Sequoia Capital, IDG Capital Partners, Lenovo, Joy Capital, Hillhouse Capital.
Automaker – Commercial Vehicles
Proterra (2004, Greenville, $345M) – Designs and manufactures heavy-duty drive, vehicle control systems and complete transit buses. Backed by KPCB, Hennessey Capital, General Motors Ventures, Constellation Ventures, 88 Green Ventures, Middle East Venture Partners.
Automaker – Scooters
Vmoto (2002, Perth, IPO) – Designs and manufactures two-wheeled electric vehicles. Went Public in February 2002.
Gogoro (2011, Taipei, $180M) – Develops electric scooters and battery swapping infrastructure for electric two-wheelers. Backed by Panasonic, National Development Fund of Taiwan.
Automaker – Motorcycles
Zero Motorcycles (2006, Scotts Valley, $134M) – Designs and manufactures high performance electric motorcycles. Backed by Invus Group, California Energy Commission.
Automaker – Nontraditional
Segway (1999, Bedford, $102M, Acq.) – Designs and manufactures personal transportation two-wheeled self-balancing electric vehicles. Acquired by Ninebot in April 2015. Backed by KPCB, Intel, Masdar CleanTech Fund.
Charging Solutions – Charging Network
Volta Charging (2010, SF, $24M) – Develops network of free-to-use charging stations at retail locations. Backed by 500 Startups, Riverwood Capital, EPIC Ventures, Three Bridge Venture Partners.
The New Motion (2009, Amsterdam, $18M) – Develops network of electric vehicle charging station across Europe. Backed by Entrepreneurs Fund, Stichting DOEN.
Charging Solutions – Plug-in Charging
ChargePoint (2007, Campbell, $279M) – Provides electric vehicle charging stations and develops network of public charging stations. Backed by KPCB, Braemar Energy Ventures, Voyager Capital, Rho Ventures.
Charging Solutions – Wireless Charging
Evatran (2009, Wytheville, $16M) – Develops wireless electric vehicle charging solutions. Backed by New Richmond Ventures, US DOE, Zhejiang VIE Science & Technology.
Components – Electric Drive Systems
Protean Electric (2009, Troy, $154M) – Develops in-wheel electric drive system for hybrid and electric light-duty vehicles. Backed by Oak Investment Partners, GSR Ventures, Tianjin THSG Corporation.
Components – Batteries
Boston Power (2005, Westborough, $638M) – Develops fast charging Li-ion batteries. Backed by GSR Ventures, Oak Investment Partners, Foundations Asset Management, GGV Capital, Venrock.
Components – Motors
UQM Technologies (1967, Longmont, IPO) – Manufactures electric motors, generators and power electronic controllers for transportation industry. Backed by US Department of Energy. Went Public in May 1992.
Leaderboard includes all the top funded, IPO and successfully running bootstrapped companies along with their location, founding year and funding amount.
For latest updates, visit Electric Vehicles feed.