Technology
Hyundai puts $1 billion into AV startup Motional, and Elon pulls the plug on Tesla Supercharger team
Welcome back tabout TechCrunch Mobility – Your central hub for news and insights on the way forward for transport.
Before I get to all the news – and there was a whole lot of it! — I actually have a very important update for all my lovely readers. TechCrunch Mobility Moves to Thursdays! This might be the same newsletter crammed with industry news and insights that may land in your inboxes on Thursday morning. Register here free of charge – just click TechCrunch Mobility!
Starting an electrical vehicle Fisker laid off more employees to “preserve cash” as bankruptcy loomed; transport company Ola fired about 180 employees and ousted CEO Hemant Bakshi just 4 months after he was appointed to the position; and Lidar company shine reduced its 700-person workforce by 20% as a part of a restructuring to adopt an asset light business model.
Oh, and then it was Tesla CEO Elon Musk, which laid off the automaker’s global Supercharger network team. This perplexing decision comes just as drivers of non-Tesla electric vehicles gain access to the grid.
This will not be to say that the entire transportation sector was surrounded by economic storm clouds. There were also brighter moments. Let’s go test it out!
Little bird
In the wake of the big Tesla Supercharger culling, we talked to a number of people small birds, including those that were laid off and people working for other automotive manufacturers. As I discussed above, Elon Musk gutted Tesla’s global supercharging organization of about 500 people. Insiders at several different automakers – all of that are implementing Tesla’s charging technology – said they do not expect this to occur. “Shocked” and “stunned” are the most typical expressions I actually have heard.
For employees, there was an absence of communication from HR in the hours immediately following the mass layoff. Some told me that neither they nor their former co-workers received details about the severance package and that communication had completely fallen through. Several of those people received severance emails by Friday. Everyone I contacted still couldn’t understand why Musk fired the Supercharger team, a corporation that is prime to Tesla and its electric vehicle sales. Others surmised that only Elon and perhaps the former Supercharger team principal, Rebecca TinucciI’ll ever know the answer.
Offers!
It’s been a minute since we heard about an autonomous vehicle startup raising a big amount of cash – or any money in any respect. Everything modified this week when Moving due to the company’s kindness, he achieved a big, multi-million victory Hyundai.
Hyundai’s total commitment is $1 billion, but there are necessary details. Here’s the way it breaks down. Hyundai invested $475 million directly in Motional as a part of a broader deal that included the buyout of three way partnership partner Aptiv. Hyundai is spending one other $448 million to purchase Aptiv’s 11% stake in Motional.
Slightly history: Motional was founded in 2019 as a $4 billion three way partnership between Hyundai and Aptiv. Motional has spent the last several years developing autonomous vehicle technology, working toward a goal of launching a robotaxi service using Hyundai Ioniq 5 autonomous vehicles in 2024. As Motional and Hyundai grow closer, the corporations announced production-ready co-development plans in November versions of the all-electric robotaxi Ioniq 5 – it looks like Aptiv has begun to grasp its own financial constraints. In January, Aptiv president and CEO Kevin Clark signaled that the company would scale back its stake in Motional and stop allocating capital to the enterprise on account of the high costs of commercializing a robotics business and the long path to profits.
This decision, although not particularly surprising to the industry insiders I talked to, still put Motional and Hyundai in a difficult situation. Will Hyundai raise the bar? Would outside investors step in? Hyundai answered the call.
My query is: will Motional, with Hyundai’s blessing, search for other investors? It will all depend on how much capital Motional burns through and whether it continues to pursue the same robotics goals. If so, it appears the company will eventually need more capital.
Other offers that caught my attention…
LiNova EnergyCalifornia-based startup developing polymer cathode batteries has raised $15.8 million in a Series A financing round led by Catalus Capital, joined by Saft, a subsidiary of TotalEnergys, Chevron Technology Ventures and a consortium of investors.
Rivian received a powerful $827 million incentive package from the state of Illinois, which might be used to construct production lines for its next-generation electric vehicle, the R2.
Viking holdingsa luxury cruise operator backed by private equity firm TPG and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, raised $1.54 billion in its IPO.
Brzeg XSwedish electric boat manufacturer founded in 2016, collected EUR 8.5 million recent funding from several anonymous existing donors, including founder Konrad Bergström.
Noteworthy reading and other interesting facts
ADAS
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration initiated an investigation into Ford BlueCruise hands-free driver assistance system after it was found to be lively during two recent crashes that resulted in multiple deaths.
NHTSA has taken one other big step for the industry and finalized a brand new one Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard which is able to enable automatic emergency braking, including the possibility of detects and mechanically brakes in front of a pedestrian, which might be standard on all passenger cars and light trucks by September 2029. The agency said this safety standard will significantly reduce rear-end collisions and pedestrian accidents. NHTSA doesn’t select the technology that automakers must use. Many computer vision and lidar corporations have contacted me to find out how this may benefit their business models.
Autonomous vehicles
Co-author of the most lively contributor Tim Stevens takes us behind the scenes of the first part Autonomous Racing League an event in Abu Dhabi during which an autonomous automotive faced a Formula 1 driver. His approach? Yes, there have been fights; he also noticed a whole lot of progress.
Electric vehicles, charging and batteries
Think back to last yr Henry Fisher proudly debuted two prototypes that may catapult his eponymous electric vehicle startup into the mainstream? TC reporter Sean O’Kane has learned that the engineering company that helped develop the vehicles is suing Fisker for $13 million in damages. Read more to find out about this process and some others.
This week’s wheels
I passed the baton to the associate of the most lively contributor Emma Hall this week for a test drive of the recent, fully electric Acura ZDX Type S. You can read the entire review here and I also suggest you watch her video advanced hands-free driver assistance system in the vehicle. For those that want to try an extended read, here’s the gist.
Hall expected joy and delight. Instead, it was more meh. Here’s one reason. The Type S weighs over 6,000 kilos. Even if the weight is evenly distributed from front to back, it’s a whole lot of weight to barter a corner. She liked the firm controls, but there wasn’t much feedback.
“Torque is always good coming out of corners and body roll is controlled, but I don’t feel the delight,” she wrote, adding that the Type S’s 275/40 Continental Premium Contact 6 summer tires offer loads of grip, but the low-profile sidewall combined with the harder run-flat rubber compound meant the ride was a bit harsh.
Hall’s pursuit of a totally electric SUV that is fun to drive around the corners continues.
Technology
The company is currently developing washing machines for humans
Forget about cold baths. Washing machines for people may soon be a brand new solution.
According to at least one Japanese the oldest newspapersOsaka-based shower head maker Science has developed a cockpit-shaped device that fills with water when a bather sits on a seat in the center and measures an individual’s heart rate and other biological data using sensors to make sure the temperature is good. “It also projects images onto the inside of the transparent cover to make the person feel refreshed,” the power says.
The device, dubbed “Mirai Ningen Sentakuki” (the human washing machine of the longer term), may never go on sale. Indeed, for now the company’s plans are limited to the Osaka trade fair in April, where as much as eight people will have the option to experience a 15-minute “wash and dry” every day after first booking.
Apparently a version for home use is within the works.
Technology
Zepto raises another $350 million amid retail upheaval in India
Zepto has secured $350 million in latest financing, its third round of financing in six months, because the Indian high-speed trading startup strengthens its position against competitors ahead of a planned public offering next yr.
Indian family offices, high-net-worth individuals and asset manager Motilal Oswal invested in the round, maintaining Zepto’s $5 billion valuation. Motilal co-founder Raamdeo Agrawal, family offices Mankind Pharma, RP-Sanjiv Goenka, Cello, Haldiram’s, Sekhsaria and Kalyan, in addition to stars Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar are amongst those backing the brand new enterprise, which is India’s largest fully national primary round.
The funding push comes as Zepto rushes so as to add Indian investors to its capitalization table, with foreign ownership now exceeding two-thirds. TechCrunch first reported on the brand new round’s deliberations last month. The Mumbai-based startup has raised over $1.35 billion since June.
Fast commerce sales – delivering groceries and other items to customers’ doors in 10 minutes – will exceed $6 billion this yr in India. Morgan Stanley predicts that this market shall be value $42 billion by 2030, accounting for 18.4% of total e-commerce and a pair of.5% of retail sales. These strong growth prospects have forced established players including Flipkart, Myntra and Nykaa to cut back delivery times as they lose touch with specialized delivery apps.
While high-speed commerce has not taken off in many of the world, the model seems to work particularly well in India, where unorganized retail stores are ever-present.
High-speed trading platforms are creating “parallel trading for consumers seeking convenience” in India, Morgan Stanley wrote in a note this month.
Zepto and its rivals – Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy-owned Instamart and Tata-owned BigBasket – currently operate on lower margins than traditional retail, and Morgan Stanley expects market leaders to realize contribution margins of 7-8% and adjusted EBITDA margins to greater than 5% by 2030. (Zepto currently spends about 35 million dollars monthly).
An investor presentation reviewed by TechCrunch shows that Zepto, which handles greater than 7 million total orders every day in greater than 17 cities, is heading in the right direction to realize annual sales of $2 billion. It anticipates 150% growth over the following 12 months, CEO Aadit Palicha told investors in August. The startup plans to go public in India next yr.
However, the rapid growth of high-speed trading has had a devastating impact on the mom-and-pop stores that dot hundreds of Indian cities, towns and villages.
According to the All India Federation of Consumer Products Distributors, about 200,000 local stores closed last yr, with 90,000 in major cities where high-speed trading is more prevalent.
The federation has warned that without regulatory intervention, more local shops shall be vulnerable to closure as fast trading platforms prioritize growth over sustainable practices.
Zepto said it has created job opportunities for tons of of hundreds of gig employees. “From day one, our vision has been to play a small role in nation building, create millions of jobs and offer better services to Indian consumers,” Palicha said in an announcement.
Regulatory challenges arise. Unless an e-commerce company is a majority shareholder of an Indian company or person, current regulations prevent it from operating on a listing model. Fast trading corporations don’t currently follow these rules.
Technology
Wiz acquires Dazz for $450 million to expand cybersecurity platform
Wizardone of the talked about names within the cybersecurity world, is making a major acquisition to expand its reach of cloud security products, especially amongst developers. This is buying Dazzlespecialist in solving security problems and risk management. Sources say the deal is valued at $450 million, which incorporates money and stock.
This is a leap within the startup’s latest round of funding. In July, we reported that Dazz had raised $50 million at a post-money valuation of just below $400 million.
Remediation and posture management – two areas of focus for Dazz – are key services within the cybersecurity market that Wiz hasn’t sorted in addition to it wanted.
“Dazz is a leader in this market, with the best talent and the best customers, which fits perfectly into the company culture,” Assaf Rappaport, CEO of Wiz, said in an interview.
Remediation, which refers to helping you understand and resolve vulnerabilities, shapes how an enterprise actually handles the various vulnerability alerts it could receive from the network. Posture management is a more preventive product: it allows a company to higher understand the scale, shape and performance of its network from a perspective, allowing it to construct higher security services around it.
Dazz will proceed to operate as a separate entity while it’s integrated into the larger Wiz stack. Wiz has made a reputation for itself as a “one-stop shop,” and Rappaport said the integrated offering will proceed to be a core a part of it.
He believes this contrasts with what number of other SaaS corporations are built. In the safety industry, there are, Rappaport said, “a lot of Frankenstein mashups where companies prioritize revenue over building a single technology stack that actually works as a platform.” It could be assumed that integration is much more necessary in cybersecurity than in other areas of enterprise IT.
Wiz and Dazz already had an in depth relationship before this deal. Merat Bahat — the CEO who co-founded Dazz with Tomer Schwartz and Yuval Ofir (CTO and VP of R&D, respectively) — worked closely with Assaf Rappaport at Microsoft, which acquired his previous startup Adallom.
After Rappaport left to found Wiz together with his former Adallom co-founders, CTO Ami Luttwak, VP of Product Yinon Costica and VP of R&D Roy Reznik, Bahat was one in all the primary investors. Similarly, when Bahat founded Dazz, Assaf was a small investor in it.
The connection goes deeper than work colleagues. Bahat and Rappaport are also close friends, and she or he was the second family of Mickey, Rappaport’s beloved dog, referred to as Chief Dog Officer Wiz (together with LinkedIn profile). Once the deal was done, the 2 faced two very sad events: each Bahat and Mika’s mother died.
“We hope for a new chapter of positivity,” Bahat said. The cycle of life does indeed proceed.
Rumors of this takeover began to appear earlier this month; Rappaport confirmed that they then began talking seriously.
But that is not the one M&A conversation Wiz has gotten involved in. Earlier this 12 months, Google tried to buy Wiz itself for $23 billion to construct a major cybersecurity business. Wiz walked away from the deal, which might have been the biggest in Google’s history, partly because Rappaport believed Wiz could turn into a fair larger company by itself terms. And that is what this agreement goals to do.
This acquisition is a test for Wiz, which earlier this 12 months filled its coffers with $1 billion solely for M&A purposes (it has raised almost $2 billion in total, and we hear the subsequent round will close in just a few weeks). . Other offers included purchasing Gem security for $350 million, but Dazz is its largest acquisition ever.
More mergers and acquisitions could also be coming. “We believe next year will be an acquisition year for us,” Rappaport said.
In an interview with TC, Luttwak said that one in all Wiz’s priorities now’s to create more tools for developers that have in mind what they need to do their jobs.
Enterprises have made significant investments in cloud services to speed up operations and make their IT more agile, but this shift has include a significantly modified security profile for these organizations: network and data architectures are more complex and attack surfaces are larger, creating opportunities for malicious hackers to find ways to to hack into these systems. Artificial intelligence makes all of this far more difficult when it comes to malicious attackers. (It’s also a chance: the brand new generation of tools for our defense relies on artificial intelligence.)
Wiz’s unique selling point is its all-in-one approach. Drawing data from AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and other cloud environments, Wiz scans applications, data and network processes for security risk aspects and provides its users with a series of detailed views to understand where these threats occur, offering over a dozen products covering the areas, corresponding to code security, container environment security, and provide chain security, in addition to quite a few partner integrations for those working with other vendors (or to enable features that Wiz doesn’t offer directly).
Indeed, Wiz offered some extent of repair to help prioritize and fix problems, but as Luttwak said, the Dazz product is solely higher.
“We now have a platform that actually provides a 360-degree view of risk across infrastructure and applications,” he said. “Dazz is a leader in attack surface management, the ability to collect vulnerability signals from the application layer across the entire stack and build the most incredible context that allows you to trace the situation back to engineers to help with remediation.”
For Dazz’s part, once I interviewed Bahat in July 2024, when Dazz raised $50 million at a $350 million valuation, she extolled the virtues of constructing strong solutions and this week said the third quarter was “amazing.”
“But market dynamics are what trigger these types of transactions,” she said. She confirmed that Dazz had also received takeover offers from other corporations. “If you think about the customers and joint customers that we have with Wiz, it makes sense for them to have it on one platform.”
And a few of Dazz’s competitors are still going it alone: Cyera, like Dazz, an authority in attack surface management, just yesterday announced a rise of $300 million at a valuation of $5 billion (which confirms our information). But what’s going to he do with this money? Make acquisitions, after all.
Wiz says it currently has annual recurring revenue of $500 million (it has a goal of $1 billion ARR next 12 months) and has greater than 45% of its Fortune 100 customers. Dazz said ARR is within the tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars and currently growing 500% on a customer base of roughly 100 organizations.
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