AutoTech’s Got Talent winner joins the Friday 5 and the insurance space continues to be white hot

Welcome to another edition of The Friday 5 with Steve Greenfield, Founder and CEO of Automotive Ventures, an auto technology advisory firm that helps entrepreneurs raise money and maximize the value of their companies.

OneAuction View

Well, we have a winner in our AutoTech’s Got Talent contest.

Amazingly, OneAuction View was able to hang on to the number one slot from week one all the way through the 10 weeks of the contest. As a result, Automotive Ventures has offered to make a $100k dollar investment into the company.

On the show today we have One Auction View’s founder, Skye Haulman who’s joining us from out in California.

Congratulations to Skye and the team at OneAuctionView!

E-Automotive

Next up, the wholesale B2B auction space, E-Automotive, which is the company behind the EBlock digital wholesale marketplace and the EDealer digital retail products, has filed for a proposed IPO in Canada.

E-Automotive has applied to list the common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Toronto-based E Inc.’s mission is to optimize the online vehicle buying, selling, and management experience for automotive dealers and consumers. E Inc. has a digital platform that provides automotive dealerships with access to an online wholesale auction marketplace where they can purchase or sell vehicles to other dealers, as well as access innovative software solutions to support dealers’ digital retailing and inventory management.

IN 2020, E Inc. reported $30.3 million in revenues, $13.8 million in gross profit, $6.4 million in operating loss and $6.7 million in net loss.

For the six months ended June 30, E Inc. reported $37.2 million in revenues, $18.4 million in gross profit, $5.2 million in operating loss and $6.8 million in net loss.

E Inc. has over 600 employees as of June 30th.

This last year has seen a public listing for ACV Auctions, an acquisition of CarWave and BackLot Cars by KAR Global, and other activity in the B2B marketplace space.

A public EBlock is going to add additional funding to what has already been a white-hot space.

GO

GO, a car subscription startup, announced a $41 million round of financing led by SYNTERRA CAPITAL MANAGEMENT. This funding will enable the company to grow its fleet substantially and expand service nationally.

Distinct from traditional auto lease and finance, GO’s model offers subscribers a simple and affordable alternative. GO is now live in four states, including Pennsylvania, Florida, New Jersey and Delaware, with plans to announce additional markets later this year.

Through the service, customers in available markets can order their car online in around 4 minutes and save up to 25% per month. There’s no down payment, and the entire process is handled virtually. In most cases, cars are even delivered to the customer’s home at no charge.

GO claims to bo the first company to offer a car subscription service geared specifically toward daily drivers, unlike previous car subscriptions that focused on swapping vehicles and short-term use.

Sure

The insurance space has been white hot this year, and this week Sure, a Santa Monica-based insurtech startup that embeds insurance software into everything from car-buying to renters insurance, has raised $100 million in a Series C funding round.

The funding gives the insurtech an enterprise valuation of more than $550 million as it eyes expansion into several overseas markets including South America, Europe, Africa and Asia, according to Slavin.

Sure has reportedly been working with Tesla over the past year. The EV firm provides buyers of its cars the option of purchasing insurance on Sure’s software platform, which is embedded into Tesla’s online car-buying experience.

Our Next Energy

In the battery technology space this week, Our Next Energy, a Michigan-based energy storage solutions company, has closed a $25 million Series A capital raise led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The round was also joined by Assembly Ventures, BMW i Ventures, Flex and Volta Energy Technologies.

Our Next Energy has demonstrated technologies that can double the range of electric vehicles, a key to increasing adoption. In addition to improving range, ONE is focused on lowering cost with cobalt-free chemistries that don’t pose a thermal runaway risk.

Companies To Watch

Colomb AI

First Up This Week Is Colomb AI.

The battery technology space has been very hot as more OEMs announce ambitious plans to increase the number of EV sales.

Coulomb’s proven analytics software for electric vehicles and batteries can increase your bottom line, reduce battery-related failures, and extend EVs’ lifetime use.

Coulomb offers Battery Analytics, EV Fleet Analytics and EV Feasibly Assessments.

Colomb AI will be a company to watch in the battery technology space.

Interplai

Our Second Company To Watch This Week is Interplai.

Interplai is creating the world’s most efficient last-mile delivery solution using smart collaborative robots and software.

The last mile of delivery is over 53% of the total transport cost for goods.

Interplai’s goal is to significantly reduce this cost by using a multi-faceted approach to increase delivery efficiency.

We’ll keep an eye on Interplai in the autonomous vehicle space to move cargo.

——————-

So that’s your weekly Friday 5, a quick wrap-up of the big deals in automotive technology over the past week.

It’s an exciting time to be in the automotive space, with a ton of deals going on. Make sure you stay tuned in each week to stay up to date on the auto industry’s technology M&A activity. I’ll keep my fingers on the pulse of deals being done, so I can share updates with you.

If you’re an early-stage automotive technology entrepreneur looking to raise money, or an entrepreneur who wants to chat about the best timing and process to sell your company to achieve the best outcome, I’d love to discuss it with you at steve@automotive.ventures.

——————-

People often ask me why I’m affiliated with CBT News.

Besides having an outstanding, extremely talented, and hardworking team up here at the studio, I greatly appreciate the valuable role that CBT News plays in the automotive industry.

Every day, I eagerly look forward to my morning email from CBT News to ensure I’m getting the most up-to-date and relevant information on the industry.

I encourage you to tune in to CBT News to ensure that you’re getting the automotive news that matters.

Did you enjoy this episode of the Friday 5? Please share your thoughts, comments, or questions regarding this topic by submitting a letter to the editor here, or connect with us at newsroom@cbtnews.com.