360 views on tech #16
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You May Be Able to Own a Self-Driving Car After All
Wired — Aarian Marshall
For years, automakers have told a specific story about how self-driving cars would arrive in the world. They would be shared, electric, with fleets of ride-hail vehicles shuttling passengers. The logic was financial: since autonomous vehicle technology would be so expensive to develop, carmakers wouldn’t be able to offer it to most drivers at prices they could afford.
But almost a decade into the self-driving experiment, with cameras and sensors like lidar getting more affordable, some players are shifting to a new business strategy: selling automated features directly to consumers.
In January, General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced that GM would “aim to deliver their first personal autonomous vehicles as soon as the middle of this decade.” Barra made it explicit that this personal robocar project was distinct from the shared fleet one. And GM is not the only automaker thinking differently about autonomy: Volvo said it will sell an advanced automated feature called Ride Pilot as a subscription-based add-on to a new electric SUV that will debut later this year and Intel-owned autonomous vehicle developer Mobileye said it would work on selling an electric vehicle with advanced automated features by 2024.
Again, the logic is financial, but the reasoning has changed: with lidar getting lighter and cheaper, the easiest way to actually make money from autonomy is to offer advanced automated features to the consumer market.
🔴🟠🟡 360 Capital invested in Innoviz (exited — Nasdaq IPO), a company developing High Definition Solid-State LiDAR sensors.
2022 is the company’s watershed year as first customer BMW begins delivering cars to customers that are equipped with InnovizOne solid-state lidar. And this is just the beginning as Innoviz launched InnovizTwo, a solid-state, forward-looking radar device that will provide future cars with improved range, field of view, and resolution at a price that is 70% percent cheaper than the InnovizOne. These are the breakthroughs driving the availability of L3 driver assistance system to the consumer market.
Read more about Innoviz gearing for Level 3 Driver Assistance
- BPI France wants to encourage individuals to invest in startups
- Neobanks biggest challenge isn’t growth, it’s fraud
- How dark stores are changing European cities
- France’s strategy for EU startups: talent and money
- A cartography of the metaverses: understanding the layers and uses
New funds
- Sequoia Capital is looking to raise up to $600M for its first crypto-fund
- HV Capital launches Germany’s first continuation fund of €430M
- MGEN, makesense and Serena Capital launch an €80M impact fund
Startup fundraisings
- Intercloud, the solution giving access to information stored at different cloud providers raised €100M from Aleph Capital, Open CNP and Ventech
- PlayPlay, the SaaS software alloings companies to easily create video content raised €55M from Insight Partners and Balderton Capital
- Planet Farms (🇮🇹), the vertical farming startup raised €30m from Red Circle, Nuova Energia Holding, and other private investors
- Boxy, the small autonomous store in a container raised €25M from Serena
- Multis, the financial management solution for cryptocurrencies for companies raised $7M from Sequoia Capital, Long Journey Ventures, Sound Ventures, MakerDAO and previous investors eFounders, YC and White Star Capital
- Gouach, the manufacturer of eco-designed battery, which can be repaired raised €3.3M from Breega
- Ray Studios, the de-ink technology allowing to remove tattoos raised $3M from AirAngels, Gaingels, Kima Ventures, Nickleby Capital and True Capital
- Serenis (🇮🇹), the platform connecting customers to psychotherapist, raised €1.1M from a syndicate of investors including Exor Seeds
Check out our website for more info on 360 Capital
Any comment or feedback ? => clara@360cap.vc
