Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insight about the future of transport. Want another reason to get this free in your inbox? The emailed version of this newsletter includes polls, including one this week asking readers what they think is the best business model for autonomous vehicle technology. Do you have an opinion on this? Email me your opinion at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com with the subject line “AV poll.”
OK, back to the show. There is another twist on the road for the lidar company Luminaire. And yes, that includes some intrigue inside the boardroom.
First, let’s catch up. You might remember that Austin Russellthe billionaire founder and CEO of Luminar, was more or less pushed out of the company by the board after an ethics investigation. But Russell didn’t go quietly into the night.
He resurfaced on our radar a few weeks ago with the launch of a new company called Russell AI Labs. And now (cue the deep and offensive “dum duum duuuuummmm”): He’s made an offer to acquire Luminar.
Senior reporter Sean O’Kane broke the story, which you can read here. He has since learned a few more details beyond what is revealed in the SEC filing.
This might look like a possible hostile move — after all, it was revealed in a filing from Russell, and Luminar isn’t commenting on the suggestion. But we’ve learned from a source that members of Luminar’s board approached the founder about the idea last month. (The word we were told was that they “encouraged” it.)
The implication here is that some of Luminar’s nine-member board really want him back, despite the fact that three of those board members on the audit committee conducted an ethics investigation of him just a few months ago, leading to his resignation.
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The proposed acquisition described in the filing is vague, but it could involve Russell AI Labs buying another automotive technology company and merging it with Luminar. As of this morning, we’ve heard that Russell is already trained in a few options as part of the due diligence he’s done with Russell AI Labs, which he sees as an incubator of sorts.
Offer!
Two notable deals this week took place in the electric aviation sector.
First up is Beta Technologieswhich took advantage of relaxed SEC rules during the US government shutdown to price shares for its initial public offering. The shares are priced between $27 and $33, hoping to raise as much as $825 million. If the company attracts investors at the top of that range, it will debut at a valuation of about $7.2 billion.
The SEC issued guidance earlier this month that lets companies in IPO limbo allow their statements on certain areas, including stock price, to become automatically effective after 20 days, even without SEC staff review. Several other companies, including Navan, have pressed ahead with IPO plans under this rule.
And there is Lilywhich was involved in a very different kind of agreement. The The electric airplane startup may have ceased operations a year ago, but its technology lives on at Archer Aviation.
Archer won a competitive bidding process – one in which Ambitious Air Mobility Group and Joby Aviation also participated – and bought all 300 of Lilium’s patents. The price, €18 million ($21 million), is a staggering figure compared to the more than $1 billion the defunct startup raised during its lifetime.
The question is, what does Archer plan to do with these patents? The company is not explicit, but there are some hints that you can read about in my story.
Other deals that caught my eye this week…
Airbornean Indian drone startup founded in 2020, raised $8.65 million in seed funding led by Physical Intelligence co-founder Lachy Groom. Humba Ventures and Airbound’s existing investor, Lightspeed Venture Partners, as well as senior executives at Tesla, SpaceX and Anduril joined.
Dexorya warehouse robot startup based in London, raised $165 million in equity and debt. The $100 million Series C round was led by Eurazeo with participation from backers LTS Growth, Endeavor Catalyst, DTCP, Atomico, Lakestar, Elaia, Latitude Ventures and Wave-X. The company also secured $65 million in debt financing from Bootstrap Europe.
FleetWorksa logistics startup developing an “always-on” AI dispatcher raised $17 million in equity and debt, including a $15 million Series A round led by First Round Capital’s Bill Trenchard. Y Combinator, Saga Ventures and LFX Venture Partners also participated in FleetWorks Series A.
Pony.ai and WeRide has received a key approval from Chinese securities regulators, paving the way for autonomous vehicle technology companies to pursue secondary listings on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The Chinese companies are already listed in the USA on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Starship technologiesthe autonomous sidewalk delivery startup, raised $50 million in a Series C round led by Plural. Karma.vc, Latitude, Coefficient Capital, SmartCap and Skaala also joined.
Upcitia Paris-based smart city software company, raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Notion Capital. Other investors included Point Nine and Chalfen Ventures.
Zeptothe Indian grocery delivery company, raised $450 million in funding ahead of a public listing, Bloomberg reported.
Notable reads and other goodies
The National Transportation Safety Board has weighed on OceanGate, the disaster that killed five people during a trip to see the wreck of the Titanic. The NTSB issued a report that found the Titan submersible did not meet production safety standards.
Stellantis and Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai are working together to build robot axes for use in Europe, albeit via a non-binding agreement. The plan is to integrate Pony’s self-driving software into Stellantis’ electric medium-sized van platform.
As Stellantis dives into autonomous vehicle technologies, it pulls back on electrification. The automaker said it will invest $13 billion to boost its U.S. production over the next four years. (Incidentally, this plan has not been well received by unions in Canada.) Five new vehicles will be developed and produced through 2029 as part of the investment at plants in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. Only one of them will be electrified, a marked difference from Stellantis’ strategy a few years ago.
Uber offers a new kind of gig work: digital tasks like uploading images to help train AI models.
Waymo expanding to London. The company said it will offer a commercial robotaxi service in London by 2026, marking the Alphabet-owned company’s second international expansion after Tokyo.
As usual, there was more than one Waymo news. The company has entered into a strategic multi-year agreement with DoorDash to deliver goods to customers in the Phoenix area using driverless vehicles. It’s been a while since Waymo experimented with delivery. Is this a hint of what’s to come? I think it is.
One more thing…
Speaking of Waymo and delivery, it got me thinking about what the best business model is. It’s been a minute since we’ve had a poll, so I hope you’ll participate if you sign up for the newsletter. I’ll share the results next week.