[ad_1]
Uber and Lyft made the headlines for a good part of the year, largely fueled by the huge initial public offering of both companies.
But beyond the hustle and bustle of Wall Street, hundreds, if not thousands, of small startups are trying to solve many of the same problems. After all, a lot of moves are linked. The car that drove you to work must park or go for more trips.
That's the thesis behind the portfolio of Autotech Ventures. The venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California, has just closed its second fund and is managing about $ 200 million with investments in areas ranging from remote monitoring to parking applications, to artificial intelligence and insurance.
Alexei Andreev, one of the CEOs of the company, explains that there is more connection between these apparently disparate investments than one might think.
"We believe that the entire transportation sector – the way people choose their vehicles, buy vehicles, finance these purchases, insure vehicles, place vehicles in fleets, manage their fleets, build their vehicles, the vehicles are used to transport goods and pbadengers along the road, to carry out repairs, maintenance and, possibly, the vehicle disposal mode – is currently undergoing a rapid transformation. "
Not only are technological innovations such as data connectivity, sensors and artificial intelligence designed to make journeys "smarter" and potentially faster, but the way people think about cars has begun to change .
"You have obvious demographic changes, with people living in densely populated areas where owning a personal car makes no sense," Andreev continued.
It is far from being the first investor to realize that society may be out of date. Analysts at Nomura Instinet expect a decline in global automotive demand of 3% in 2019. The industry is cyclical, certainly, but with low oil prices for five months and an overabundance of used cars, "the peak of Car sales is clear "Bank of America said recently.
Then there are the mbadive IPOs of Uber and Lyft this year. Each company has mentioned a decline in the ownership of personal vehicles in its offering flyers, helping to boost the huge addressable markets that every company has touted to investors.
Read more: Goldman Sachs says Uber's business model is one of its biggest risks
Choose Lyft on Uber
Lyft vs. Uber was a fight that has gone through the minds of many investors in recent years. Despite huge size differences, Autotech finally chose Lyft. Andreev explained that this was partly due to the fact that Lyft had put the emphasis on the parade, unlike the very distant Uber bets on flying cars, food delivery, and so on. There was a more personal element involved.
"First of all, we certainly knew better about Lyft thanks to John Zimmer, we organized barbecues several times and we felt really good about it," said Andreev. "He is a graduate of the Cornell Hotel Department, so he is very focused on the customer experience." By the end of the day, you need to make sure your customers are satisfied and that they continue to contact you after an experience. positive. "
Zimmer even lived with one of Autotech's other albums when he moved from the east coast to San Francisco, so the personal connection that exists can not be overstated.
Until now, Lyft has been a good investment for Autotech. The company's stake now stands at about $ 2.34 billion following its IPO, a return of nearly 150% on the initial $ 1 billion stake, according to PitchBook data. Depending on what Andreev decides to do with the shares after the 180-day lock-in period, it could be the company's first real exit from an investment, with a huge profit to be made.
Read more: Uber and Lyft drivers reveal the craziest things they've seen while driving pbadengers
Lyft is inscribed in a larger theme than the wrinkle
A consensus among many investors, researchers and leaders is that the societal transition to autonomous cars will be slow. Perhaps even more slowly than some initial estimates of a totally autonomous future.
Possession of a vehicle is also safe to be difficult to live in areas of the country where it is virtually impossible to live without a personal vehicle. For many businesses too, they are a necessity of the trade.
"My wife, for example, uses our vehicle as an elongated purse," Andreev said. "You have to carry your strollers, your diaper bags, your footballs, etc. I just can not imagine, if you go through a period of your life, how you can get rid of your personal vehicle. -being two, but these corner cases exist. "
Since most cars are unused for most of the week or day, Autotech also invests in other projects that may increase usage.
Andreev noted that people are turning to everything online, such as buying vehicles, booking hotels, etc. Referring to his company's participation in the $ 31 million SpotHero parking application fundraiser in 2017, he said: "It became clear to us that we wanted to invest in the business. which can be the parking booking.com ".
"If you live in Silicon Valley and you have to go to San Francisco, you save over 30% or 40% time on parking while eliminating headaches." It's a real pain reliever by increasing l & # 39; efficiency. "
Similarly, Autotech has invested in a handful of startups aimed at increasing the use of badets. There is Outdoorsy, an online market for recreational vehicles; Volta, a free electric vehicle charging network powered by advertising revenue; Rollick, a motorcycle sales platform; and more than a dozen more in the current portfolio of the company.
"My personal philosophy is that if you have enough gaps, you can build a lot of lasting value," said Andreev. "I am very sensitive to defending the particular opportunities that can result from technology, from a unique idea, from an algorithm or from another competitive advantage."
Source link
