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I’m again from vacation in Denmark and Germany, the place I managed to attempt nearly each sort of transportation, from bikes to scooters, to driving on the Autobahn and taking the prepare. I even took some ferries. It’s secure to say Copenhagen’s bike tradition left me envious.
The TechCrunch workforce was busy as ever because of the Tesla shareholder assembly, a number of funding offers and developments within the EV world. The biggie: Fisker submitting for Chapter 11 chapter. Right here’s a timeline of occasions main as much as the chapter submitting in addition to senior reporter Sean O’Kane’s piece about why Fisker failed.
And in case you missed it, I additionally extremely advocate this deeply reported article (from late Might) by O’Kane that uncovered the quite a few issues inside Fisker.
A bit of chicken
Received a tip for us? E-mail Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. Or take a look at these directions to discover ways to contact us by way of encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop.
Offers!
This week’s largest deal comes from self-driving trucking startup Waabi. The corporate raised $200 million in a spherical from present buyers Uber and Khosla Ventures, alongside plenty of sturdy strategic buyers like Nvidia, Volvo Group VC, Porsche Automobil Holding SE and extra.
Waabi plans to make use of the funds to get to a completely driverless business launch in 2025, however that’s not the one purpose buyers are so bullish on the younger startup. Waabi’s generative AI foundational mannequin is able to reasoning nearly as a human would, with out requiring reams of real-world knowledge to coach on, in line with the startup’s founder and CEO Raquel Urtasun. This makes the AI system extra capital environment friendly and simpler to scale to autonomous trucking and past.
Urtasun mentioned the AI’s skill to generalize and develop shortly means Waabi can broaden the tech to different functions, like robotaxis, humanoids or warehouse robotics.
Different offers that obtained my consideration …
Bitsensing raised a $25 million Sequence B to additional develop its high-res radar know-how for autonomous automobiles. Buyers embody Korea Growth Financial institution, HL Mando Company, Industrial Financial institution of Korea and Aju Capital.
LD Carbon raised $28 million in a Sequence C spherical led by Toyota’s development fund, Woven Capital, to advance the round financial system by diverting used tires from landfills. The startup additionally goals to develop high-performance recycled automotive elements, in line with a press release despatched to TechCrunch.
RBW EV, a London-based EV producer of recent, hand-crafted basic British sports activities automobiles, raised £10 million from Meson Capital Companions. The startup presently presents a Roadster mannequin with a beginning worth of round $135,000 and plans to debut its GT mannequin later this yr at a beginning worth of $151,000.
Unigrid raised $12 million in a spherical led by Transition VC and Ritz Enterprise Capital to make sodium-ion batteries, which promise to be a less expensive, safer various that may complement lithium-ion batteries.
Notable reads and different tidbits
Autonomous automobiles
A College of Central Florida research means that autonomous automobiles (AVs) are safer than people in routine circumstances throughout daylight. However in different circumstances they battle, in line with the New Scientist.
California senator Dave Cortese shelved his SB 915 invoice (which might give cities extra management over AV deployment) after the Meeting committee proposed amendments that might successfully strip the invoice of its unique intent. The AV business sees this as a win, however Cortese mentioned he would ultimately reintroduce it.
Venture 3 Mobility, the Croatia-based autonomous automobile startup co-founded by Mate Rimac, is ready to make what it describes as a “major reveal” on June 26. As a reminder, the corporate just lately raised 100 million euros ($107 million) in a Sequence A spherical that included backing from TASARU Mobility Investments, an organization totally owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund.
Electrical automobiles, charging & batteries
Chinese language automaker and battery maker BYD signed an MoU with Ampersand, an African EV power tech firm, to decarbonize Africa’s business bike transport system. The deal includes Ampersand buying BYD’s battery cells to construct round 40,000 e-motorcycles by the top of 2026.
ChargePoint is teaming up with South Korea’s LG Electronics to put in extra EV charging stations within the U.S. As a part of the deal, ChargePoint will present software program to function LG’s EV chargers, and LG will provide the {hardware} to bolster ChargePoint’s community.
Revel has employed a pair extra former Tesla staff to management positions in its EV infrastructure workforce, the startup introduced. This seems to be a part of a rising development from automakers and EV charging corporations to scoop up prime expertise that Elon Musk seems to have fired on a whim six weeks in the past.
Ultium staff at GM’s Lordstown, Ohio, battery cell plant have voted to ratify a brand new contract that may give manufacturing staff $35 an hour by October 2027, in addition to advantages and well being and security protections.
Tesla
Tesla held its shareholder assembly final Thursday following an unprecedented social media battle waged by Musk and Tesla followers. It ought to shock nobody that buyers voted to approve Elon Musk’s astronomical pay package deal. Additionally they voted in favor of reincorporating Tesla in Texas.
Now Tesla has begun combating for authorized recognition of that shareholder vote. The automaker wrote to the Delaware choose who, in January, dominated that Musk’s pay package deal was unfair to say that the shareholder vote “significantly impacts” her ruling voiding the pay.
That’s not the one authorized battle Tesla obtained itself into over the previous week. Whereas some shareholders wish to give Musk all the things he requested for, others are standing as much as him. A gaggle of shareholders sued Musk and the Tesla board final week, claiming that they breached fiduciary duties and unjustly enriched Musk by permitting the CEO to launch xAI, which they are saying is a competing AI firm.
Misc.
Fast-commerce startups promising 15-minute supply rose and fell in U.S. cities. However in India, the sector is rising alongside the nation’s speedy urbanization. Will Indian quick-commerce startups, that are more and more transferring into the e-commerce market, be capable to discover product-market match and powerful unit economics the place U.S. startups couldn’t?
This week’s wheels
What’s “This week’s wheels”? It’s an opportunity to be taught in regards to the completely different transportation merchandise we’re testing, whether or not it’s an electrical or hybrid automotive, an e-bike or perhaps a journey in an autonomous automobile. Within the coming weeks, we’ll share our views on the Fiat 500e, a couple of e-bikes, the 2024 Nissan Ariya Empower+, and extra.