152 smart car companies have received funding over the last 5 years. 101 and 68 companies were founded in 2014 and 2015 respectively, the peak founding activity for the sector.
Six business models in the smart cars landscape have attracted $100M+ investments — autonomous vehicles, fleet management, connected car, driving assistance, security, and on board diagnostics. Notable recent exits in this space include GM’s acquisition of highway pilot system Cruise Automation, and Uber’s acquisition of Otto, a cruise control provider for trucks.
Globally, four of the seven autonomous vehicle makers — Zoox, nuTonomy, Navya Technology, and Auro Robotics have raised million dollar plus funding rounds. Large upcoming sectors in this space include smartphone-based personal assistants providing onboard diagnostics, such as Dallas-based Vinli, and Tel Aviv-based Engie. Seven companies providing display systems for driver assistance, such as San Francisco-based Navdy, and Beijing-based CarRobot have raised funding.
LiDAR companies, which provide vision and sensing capabilities to vehicles are a crucial component in enabling autonomous and cruising capabilities. Velodyne LiDAR ($150M, PE), and Quanergy ($90M, Series B) are notable companies to have secured mammoth funding rounds this year. Other notable investments this year include Zoox ($200M, Series A), Pearl Automation ($50M, Series B), nuTonomy ($16M, Series A), Zendrive ($14M, Series A), and Nauto ($12M, Series A). Rising average ticket sizes across the board in 2016 highlights the momentum in this sector.
Intel Capital (Peloton Tech, CloudMade), First Round Capital (Zendrive, Swift Navigation), KPCB (Waze, Inrix) and Magma Venture Partners (Innoviz Technologies, Argus Cyber Security) are some of the most active investors in this space, based on number of portfolio investments in smart cars companies.
Tracxn’s smart cars report maps companies providing autonomous vehicles, connected car technologies, driving assistance, on-board diagnostics (OBD), infotainment, security and fleet management products & services. Preview the report below.
