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Welcome back to The Station , your cardinal hub for all retiring , present and future means of make a motion citizenry and parcel from Point A to Point B.
TheLA Auto Showwas this week and while it no longer has the cache of pre - COVID days , there was still some notable news that came out of the event . TechCrunch reporter Harri Weber was on the scene helping me comprehend the news . One of the biggest announcement had nothing to do with a vehicle reveal . Nope , it wasAmazondeclaring it was now going tosell machine online , take off withHyundai .
Other coverage included theLucid Gravity SUV debutand a handyroundupthat covered the technical school , EVs and other play stuff that start out our care .
Alrighty , let ’s plunk in !
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Micromobbin’
Upway , the French refurbished east - bike marketplace , hasraised $ 30 millionat an increased evaluation . Normally this opus of news show would go in our deal section below , but I wanted to contemplate on the meaning of this up around .
Upway is present in multiple countries in Europe and late expatiate to the U.S. It takes in used east - motorcycle from reputable and desirable stigma , fixes them up and station them out to customers at a enough price . Getting this business right requires voguish supply chain and logistics management , and it appears Upway is on the right-hand course . In today ’s capital securities industry , it ’s not as easy to get unexampled investors if you ’re not proving out business sustainability .
whizz along out to the macro environment , e - bikes are n’t going anywhere . In fact , as more people buy new bikes , the marketplace for used one grows . And with all the e - bike barrage fire fires we ’ve seen , a company offer safely freshen up tocopherol - bikes seems like a pretty full deal .
— Rebecca Bellan
Deal of the week
Just a roundup this week !
Divergent Technologies , a Torrance , California - based startup that developed an industrial digital fabrication system , raise $ 230 million in a Series D funding unit of ammunition lead by a $ 100 million investiture from Hexagon AB . The round also let in participation from newfangled and subsist institutional and family office investor .
Gravity , an EV infrastructure inauguration , raised $ 13 million in a source round head by GV ( Google Ventures ) .
GMacquired key Tesla gigacasting supplier Tooling & Equipment International , Reuters report .
InDrive , the “ dictation - based ” drive - hail chopine popular in Latin America and Asia , launched aventure and merger and acquisition divisionnamed New Ventures to invest up to $ 100 million in inauguration within emerging marketplace over the next few eld . The $ 100 million wo n’t come from a store , precisely . The plan is to invest the money “ over the next few years by reach annual assignation of investing majuscule from our balance shroud , jump in 2024 , ” Andries Smit , vice president of New Ventures told TechCrunch .
Luup , a Tokyo - based shared east - water scooter startup , raise $ 24 millionto expand its charge port to 10,000 by 2025 , up from around 4,900 today .
Revolv , an electric commercial fleet company ground in San Francisco , farm $ 25 million in fairness projection funding from Greenbacker Capital Management .
Shekel Mobility , a B2B auto dealers marketplace in Africa , evoke more than $ 7 millionin funding that was comprised of $ 3.2 million in fairness and over $ 4 million in debt . Ventures Platform co - led the round alongside MaC Venture Capital . Other investors include Y Combinator , Rebel Fund , Unpopular Ventures , Maiora Capital , PageOne Lab Inc. , Phoenix Investment Club , Heirloom VC , Pioneer Ventures and other holy person investor . Meanwhile , Zedvance , VFD Microfinance Bank , Zenith Bank and Fluna , amongst others , provided the debt component .
Tenet , an EV financing startup found in New York , raised $ 10 millionin a Series A funding round direct by Nyca Partners . Assurant Ventures and Giant Ventures also participated .
Notable reads and other tidbits
Autonomous vehicles
Texasis poised to be the next hotbed for autonomous vehicles and a likely regulatory battlefield . AVs are n’t regulate in the State Department , but as robotaxi incidents grow , cities may turn to one weaponthat California does n’t have , TechCrunch newsperson Rebecca Bellan writes .
Meanwhile , GM has take the wheel at its riotous AV subsidiary Cruise , go as far asinserting one of its own executivesto head up the ego - driving car society ’s legal and policy , communications and finance teams .
A identification number ofCruiseemployees have report to TechCrunch that team spirit is at a new low degree thanks to a decision by parent society GM tosuspend its employee portion - selling platform . But wait ! On Saturday , Cruise Centennial State - founder and CEOKyle Vogtsent an email to employee ( which TechCrunch has seen ) apologizing to employees , taking responsibility and countermand course of instruction , sort of , on the share sale . He open with :
“ I know the tidings about change to our RLO program was extemely hard to try , and that there were many unanswered questions . We left you with concerns about your co-worker , your careers , and your personal finance . That ’s the last thing I want for anyone , and I am truly meritless . ”
Vogt went on to say that the company was working on a way to carry a unexampled pinnace offer that would extenuate potential revenue enhancement obligation .
He later publish that “ as CEO , I take responsibleness for the situation Cruise is in today . There are no excuses , and there is no lolly coating what happened . ”
Earnings
It was a slower earnings week for transportation . Still , there were a twain of noteworthy word point .
It ’s still not looking good forBird , whichclosed out the quarterafter getting delist from the stock market with a $ 19.8 million loss . Bird ’s going concern warning is very much still in effect — the company has incurred go back losses and negative immediate payment flow since its inception and has accumulated a deficit of $ 1.6 billion as of September 30 , 2023 .
receipts continue sluttish , despite the Spin buy , at $ 54.3 million ( down from $ 72.8 million in Q3 2022 ) . Now we ’re get into winter , when cash flow rate will drop even more importantly . Bird close out the quarter with $ 10.2 million in cash and hard currency equivalents , which by my calculations gives it another nine calendar month with its current cash suntan . The company say it wo n’t be able to conform to obligations over the next 12 months .
Gogoro , too , is still feeling its previous stings ofcurrency conversions . Its revenue of $ 91.8 million for the one-fourth is down 10.2 % YoY. However , barrage swapping service tax revenue of $ 33.6 million is up 10.4 % YoY. The battery swapping giant close Q3 with a final red of $ 3.1 million , down from a final income of $ 56.4 million in the same fourth last year . On an familiarized base , Gogoro reported Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization of $ 13.1 million , which is up from $ 9.2 million in Q3 2022 .
Fiskeralso had a disturbing third one-fourth , reporting a wide - than - bear loss .
Electric vehicles, charging & batteries
Arrival , the once buzzy EV startup that give out public via a amalgamation with a blank impediment society , secured a$50 million bridge loan — funds that will keep it afloat long enough to explore a potential sale .
Cadillacdebuted the Optiq , an entry - level compact crossover EV that will slot below the Lyriq .
Candela’selectric hydrofoiling ferryboat , which is now in production , took its first “ flight ” in Stockholm .
Exxonwants todrill enough lithiumout of Arkansas to power 1 million electron volt per class .
GMabsorbedBrightDrop , the wholly have commercial-grade EV subsidiary company , a alteration that included oust its chief operating officer . Does the same luck await Cruise , another one of its subsidiaries ?
Mercedesplans to build around30 tight - load hubsat Buc - ee ’s locations throughout the South . TC+ reporter Tim de Chant digs into why supersize restroom stores might be key to unlock EV fast charging .
Redwood Materialswillsupply Toyotawith cathode material and anode copper hydrofoil for battery cells produce at the automaker ’s $ 13.9 billion factory in North Carolina that ’s slated to go into yield in 2025 .
Teslahits reverse on its old scourge to sueCybertruck resellers . Also , an upgradedTesla Cyberquad for kidsis back on sales agreement after a safety recall .
Future of flight
Archer Aviationsigned a memoranda of understanding with Air Chateau , a individual aviation operator in UAE , at a value of around $ 500 million for the plan purchase of up to 100 of Archer ’s Midnight eVTOLs .
Joby Aviationand Volocopter gave the populace a vivid coup d’oeil of what thefuture of aviationmight look like , with both companies performing abbreviated manifestation flight of steps of their electric aircraft in New York City .
Ziplinehit an important milepost in its U.S. surgical procedure . The Federal Aviation Administration approved Zipline for fly its autonomous poke without line of sight visual observers . Soon after theFAA lifted this requirement , Zipline flew its Platform 1 aircraft in the Salt Lake City area without the antecedently demand visual commentator . Zipline is now fly in Utah without this requirement and will presently expand that approaching across its U.S. operations , according to the company .
In-car tech
Fedswantspeed reduction techin every new railroad car . Are American driver ready ?
A software update brickedRivianinfotainment system of rules . About3 % of its vehicleswere impacted by the issue , which is being address with an over - the - air software update .
Ride-hailing
Uberis introduce new features geared toward address the return ofunfair deactivationsthat ride - hail and delivery driver often face .
