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Automotive Ventures

About

We invest across mobility

  • Connectivity, Cybersecurity & Compliance: Vehicles are creating more data than ever, which is both opportunity and threat.
  • Autonomy, Robotics & AI: Artificial intelligence (AI) & robotics have the potential to usher in a new wave of safety and productivity.
  • Shared Assets, Subscription & Convenience Economy: New generations of consumer may be willingly to trade price for convenience and be open to new ownership models.
  • Decarbonization & New Energy Sources: The world is moving to reduce our carbon footprint and new energy sources are a key piece of the puzzle.

What makes us different

  1. Industry Expertise: We have a strong thesis for how the future will unfold. Our guidance and market perspective gives founders access to “smart money.” We work hard to help our companies move up the maturity curve and stay out of trouble.
  2. Robust Network: Our network is second to none. Our industry reputation and reach gives founders credibility and distribution with potential early customers and partners. Our connections with co-investors helps founders raise and close subsequent rounds.
  3. Founder Empathy: Being a founder is hard and can often be thankless. Entrepreneurs experience crazy highs and terrible lows. One of our key roles is to be there for our founding teams. In good times and in bad. As a steadfast rock they can lean on.

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Rethink Ventures

Rethink Ventures is specialist fund focused on mobility, automotive and logistics innovators leading the transformation towards a digital, clean and sustainable future. Investment Strategy As an early-stage focused fund, we partner with founders at the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey. Typically we invest in companies between Seed to Series-A stage, often coming in as first institutional investor. From our home base in Munich, we partner with founders across Europe. Our focus in the transportation sector centers on the following four areas of expertise: Vehicle Technologies: Technologies for next generation vehicles that are digital, autonomously operated and sustainable. Mobility: Providing clean, comfortable, safe and affordable mobility for everyone. Logistics: Leading the transformation towards digital, automated and sustainable logistics operations. Energy: New powertrains and infrastructure to power a clean and emission free future of transportation. Providing true value-add for early-stage companies to scale to the next levels. At Rethink Ventures, we are creating a mutually beneficial ecosystem between our portfolio companies and our corporate partners. By providing direct access to the automotive and logistics industry we are supporting our startups to win new customers, establish technology partnerships and become part of complex value chains. We work closely with founders to drive their companies’ long-term growth and eventually create new market leaders. Our commitment to drive change in mobility The Challenge: The transportation sector faces significant challenges as the global demand for mobility and logistics continues to grow. Greenhouse gas emissions: By contributing approximately 25% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, the transportation sector is a leading cause of climate change. Natural resources consumption: Natural resources are heavily relied upon for the production of vehicles, fuels, and infrastructure in the transportation sector, which can have significant environmental impacts. Congestion: Traffic congestion in urban areas is a major challenge that requires a combination of infrastructure improvements, public transportation options, and changes in behavior. Physical footprint: The transportation sector requires a significant amount of physical space for roads, parking, and other infrastructure, leading to habitat destruction, loss of green space, and decreased livability in urban areas. Innovation as a Solution: At Rethink Ventures, we strongly in believe innovation and new technologies to create a world in which transportation is emission-free and sustainable. Together with our startups and partners, we aim to develop and scale solutions that eventually will provide clean, digital and safe mobility for everyone. As a SFDR article-8 fund generating positive impact through our investment activities is core to our Rethink Ventures DNA.

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Hitachi Ventures

Hitachi Ventures is the global venture capital arm of Hitachi Group, a global industrial player active in a broad range of technology sectors. Hitachi Ventures invests in innovative companies that address society’s key technological challenges in areas like IT, industrial automation (robotics, sensor technology and IoT), cloud services (data management, cybersecurity), mobility (autonomous driving, mobility services, smart infrastructure and security services), energy, smart medicine (AI for digital imaging, smart diagnostics, remote care), smart city, smart infrastructure and more. Hitachi intends to leverage its strong position in multiple global technology markets, its expertise and network to support and promote Hitachi Ventures portfolio companies. With our first fund of USD 150M, we invest in Series A/B/C rounds in globally leading startups. From our offices in Munich, Germany, and Boston, USA, we work tirelessly to develop close ties and effective collaboration with leading innovative technology hubs and like-minded co-investors.

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Toyota Ventures

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Toyota Ventures is Toyota’s first standalone early-stage venture capital firm. Through the Toyota Ventures Frontier Fund, we invest in artificial intelligence, autonomy, mobility, robotics, cloud technology, smart cities, digital health, fintech, energy, and materials. As part of Toyota’s ongoing efforts to accelerate carbon dioxide reduction, we also invest in startups that are creating scalable solutions for carbon neutrality, as part of the Toyota Ventures Climate Fund. We are on a mission to explore what’s next by helping early-stage startups bring disruptive technologies and business models to market quickly. As we pursue this goal, we are committed to finding and funding the best entrepreneurs from around the world. We value different approaches and points of view, and believe diversity drives innovation. How we work Leveraging the deep technical expertise and global resources of Toyota, our team offers Toyota Ventures portfolio companies strategic support and operational guidance in business development, product, fundraising, marketing, executive coaching, and other areas. We are also dedicated to embracing and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within our portfolio and the larger VC industry through efforts like the Diversity VC Standard. The entrepreneurs who partner with us receive much more than money. Their success is our success, and we support them at every step of their journey - while giving them the freedom and flexibility they need to experiment and grow their businesses. We look for both financial returns and strategic value, and firmly believe that financial returns must precede strategic value. We look for innovators who have the courage, humility, and tenacity to tackle important challenges we have yet to solve. It’s the same spirit of innovation that inspired Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda and his team to devote themselves to transforming Toyota from a loom maker to an automotive manufacturer in the 1930’s. And it is this same vision that continues to drive Toyota today. If you are the founder of an early-stage company developing solutions in other areas we invest in and you’re looking for funding, you are also invited to complete our online pitch form. For those who are seeking growth-stage capital, we encourage you to visit our colleagues at Woven Capital, the growth-stage investment fund of Woven Planet.