Participated · Series C · Jul 2022

May Mobility develops and sells autonomous vehicle systems—specifically retrofitted Toyota Sienna minivans—on geofenced routes under multi-year, multi-million-dollar contracts with cities. The company focuses on B2B deployments in mid-size municipalities rather than large-scale robotaxi rollouts, which it says enables earlier path to profitability and lower burn. May Mobility has announced deployments or deals in Ann Arbor (its HQ), Arlington, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Sun City and plans to enter Contra Costa County by early 2024, with Southeast expansion expected. Management says as AV tech advances and costs fall, the company intends to expand into other segments such as trucking, logistics and robotaxis. Financially, May Mobility has raised roughly $300 million to date, including a $105 million financing announced this week, and counts Toyota and BMW among strategic backers. May Mobility develops low-speed autonomous shuttles and vehicle platforms (including modified Toyota Sienna S-AM vehicles) for public-transportation augmentation and ride-hail use. The company currently operates vehicles in five cities — Arlington, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Fishers and Hiroshima — and has about 20 S-AMs in its fleet, most in Ann Arbor. May is working with partners including Toyota, SoftBank and MONET Technologies and has begun development work to integrate its kit onto Toyota’s e-Palette platform. The startup recently completed AV pilots (for example at Hiroshima University) and plans further trials in Tokyo’s Takeshiba district. May says it will use new funding to triple corporate headcount (particularly engineering), expand U.S. and Japan deployments, and pursue driver-out operations in 2023. Its total disclosed funding to date is $194 million. May Mobility develops and operates autonomous low-speed shuttle services, with deployments in Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Providence, Rhode Island. The company currently runs 25 autonomous shuttles across those three cities and plans to expand to roughly 25 vehicles per city to improve economics and impact. Founded in 2017, May Mobility positions itself in the transportation-as-a-service space with local shuttle fleets. The startup raised $50 million in a Series B led by Toyota, following a $22 million raise less than a year earlier. The new capital will be used to expand its AV shuttle fleet and to grow engineering and operations staff. May is working with Toyota as one of its autonomous driving providers for future open platforms and will explore pairing its technology with Toyota's e-Palette platform. May Mobility operates full-stack, low-speed autonomous vehicle fleets and provides daily public transit services for public and private customers. Its solution combines vehicle hardware and software, expert fleet operations, and a cloud-based business insights platform that monitors fleet health and ridership analytics. The company targets the $28B U.S. last-mile transportation market and currently operates commercial services in downtown Detroit, MI and Columbus, OH, with planned launches in Grand Rapids, MI and Providence, RI and additional U.S. deployments in 2019. May’s fleet has provided more than 35,000 rides in Columbus and Detroit, and the company reports it is generating revenue while collecting technical and market data. The business emphasizes scalable operations and real-world data collection to improve its technology with each mile driven. The company works with transit agencies, developers, and other partners to design and operate dependable shared mobility services. May Mobility develops and operates self-driving small shuttle fleets intended to replace existing transportation options for corporate and other clients. The company focuses on practical, route-defined autonomous solutions using currently available technology and manages fleets end-to-end, including vehicle maintenance and daily operation. Its team includes DARPA Urban Challenge participants and veterans from Ford, GM, Toyota and the University of Michigan’s automotive programs. May ran a pilot with Detroit-based Bedrock in October that the company says demonstrated its technology and service readiness. The company raised $11.5 million in seed funding and plans to use the proceeds to hire additional employees and expand coverage to more U.S. cities by the end of 2018. It intends to launch its first commercial operations later in 2018.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2021

Sonatus develops the Sonatus Vehicle Platform, a suite of software products that serve as building blocks for OEMs and their ecosystems to enable continuous vehicle improvements. The platform includes Sonatus Collector, which is in production and gathers precise vehicle data across fleets, and the newly launched Sonatus Automator, which uses automation recipes to trigger in-vehicle functions and external actions. Sonatus’ software is already in mass production with Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis and the company says the platform will grow to millions of cars by 2024. Sonatus has expanded into Japan and exhibited at Automotive World 2023 to showcase its SDV solutions and host a seminar on its data center approach. Financially, Sonatus has raised more than $110 million from automotive, technology, and venture investors. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and maintains offices in Dublin, Paris, Shanghai, Seoul, Taiwan, and Tokyo. Sonatus develops automotive software platforms that enable vehicle manufacturers and their ecosystems to deliver continuous improvements in cost, capability, reliability, and user experience over a vehicle's lifespan. Its core products power software-defined vehicle capabilities and are in production in Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis vehicles, including multiple Genesis car and SUV models and the Hyundai Ioniq 6. The company says its software will be in millions of cars by 2023. Sonatus plans to use the new funding to accelerate growth, expand operations and broaden its business reach. Led by CEO Jeffrey Chou, the company has grown with backing from venture capital, strategic partners and customers. Sonatus is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, with offices in Paris and Seoul; combined with its earlier Series A it has now raised over $110M. Sonatus offers an in-vehicle software component and a cloud platform that together enable OEMs to collect, store, analyze and expose vehicle data in real time. Its architecture is drivetrain-agnostic and designed to let automakers add features, manage usage data and perform targeted, real-time data collection without full OTA updates. The company says its first-generation product is already in mass production with a top global automaker and will be announced soon. Sonatus grew from a small team to beyond 50 employees and initially built the company without outside investment. The startup intends to use the new funds for branding, marketing, new OEM partnerships and expanding local teams. Leadership has said the platform could later be used to analyze driver behavior and support autonomous technology development, though it is not pursuing that yet.

Led · Equity · Feb 2021

Plus develops self-driving truck technology centered on its driver-in autonomous driving solution, PlusDrive. The company is commercializing PlusDrive with truckmakers and fleet partners, including a jointly developed automated truck with FAW and pilots with large fleets such as SF Express. Plus is in the final stages of certifying PlusDrive for commercial operation in China and plans to start mass production of the PlusDrive-powered automated truck this summer. The additional funding will enable Plus to expand global operations and commercial deployment across the U.S., China, Europe, and other parts of Asia. Plus says its technology delivers safety, efficiency, comfort, and sustainability benefits to truck makers and fleets. Financially, Plus announced a new $220 million funding round that is described as an extension of a $200 million round announced last month. Plus builds a full‑stack automated driving system for heavy trucks and works with truck manufacturers, shippers, and fleet operators to deploy that system at scale. The company says mass production of its automated trucks will begin in 2021 and it has more than 10,000 pre-orders. Plus plans to use recent funding to accelerate global commercialization, scale deployments in the U.S. and China, expand into Europe and other parts of Asia, and build a sales and support network to help fleets integrate its system. It also intends to grow its engineering team to continue developing its autonomous driving technology. Plus has completed pilots with major logistics providers, completed a cross‑country commercial freight run with Land O’Lakes, and entered a joint venture with FAW to be an exclusive autonomous trucking technology provider. The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Cupertino, California.

Participated · Series D · Jun 2016

Circle launched ARC, a public blockchain designed for institutional contracts, governance, and AI agents, with USDC as the settlement currency. The company completed a $222 million presale of ARC tokens that values the project at about $3.0 billion on a fully diluted basis. The presale was led by a16z and included institutional participants such as BlackRock and Apollo. Circle will hold 25% of the token supply to fund validator rewards as part of the network’s tokenomics. The financing was executed via a token presale rather than an equity infusion. The transaction positions Circle to bootstrap ARC with institutional backers and a built-in token allocation for network security and incentives.

Led · Equity · Aug 2012

A123 Systems supplies electric batteries used by automakers, including Fisker. The company disclosed a memorandum of understanding with Wanxiang Group Corporation for a $450M capital injection. A123 said the investment would allow it to continue growing its core business and would remove uncertainty around its finances. Earlier in the year a battery issue uncovered during testing of Fisker's Karma caused major financial strain. In a May regulatory filing A123's auditors said they had "substantial doubt" about the company's ability to continue as a going concern. Fisker subsequently said it would replace all of the batteries in its cars as a result of the A123 issue. A123 Systems manufactures lithium-ion battery systems primarily for hybrid and electric vehicles and also develops grid-scale energy storage products. The company says it will use new funding to build battery factories in Michigan to serve key automotive clients such as Chrysler. A123 projects those factories will be able to produce battery systems for more than 5 million hybrid vehicles and 500,000 plug-in electric cars by 2013. It plans to allocate some of the recent funding to developing renewable energy storage solutions for wind and solar integration. The company is positioned to benefit from stimulus funds aimed at battery storage and has been described in the article as fairly recession resistant. A123 is based in Watertown, Mass., and has raised over $300 million to date.