Israel Mobility - Jan. Newsletter
Mobility start-ups develop their appetite to IPO and 2021 begun with a sequence of announcements regarding SPAC deals. The Israeli government is pushing ahead the infrastructure for EVs and push ahead the development of an APP to optimize charging experience across the country. And while most of the local startups aspire to expend overseas, others find Israel as a great testing zone not only for covid vaccines, as Navya launched an autonomous shuttle service at a major hospital.
Jan. 3rd: After securing investment from Knorr-Bremse this October, Rail Vision (רייל ויז’ן) will develop a light rail collision warning system. The development was ordered by the German company, which has already secured two samples of Rail Vision’s light rail vehicle (LRV) system. The new system is based on the same technology of Rail Vision’s flagship system for heavy trains, but it relies on shorter-range camera, infrared sensors and algorithms that are adapted to travel scenarios of light rail. The system will be able to detect and define obstacles on the track within a range of up to 200 meters even during severe visibility at various weather conditions and allows braking ahead of time to avoid collision.
Jan. 4th: Developer of next generation 4D imaging radar solutions Arbe (ארבה ), prepares for an IPO at a valuation of up to $450 million. The Company plans to be listed on Tel Aviv stock exchange in few months, followed by a listing on New York stock exchange. The company now aims to raise $100 million to further develop its products, after announcing last October the launch of its first 2K high resolution Imaging radar development platform for ADAS and Autonomous Vehicles. Until today, Arbe has raised $55 million from several investors and VCs, securing $32 million during its last round at December 2019.
Jan. 6th: Provider of advanced parking management system Cellopark Technologies (סלופארק טכנולוגיות) will operate an app for electric vehicles run by the Israeli government. The company won a tender from the Ministry of Energy to develop and operate an app that will list closest charging stations for electric vehicles. The app, available in the next few months and aims to help drivers who fear to run out of battery, will allow drivers to locate the closest stations to their location, and get information about pricing and availability for charging. The number of electric vehicles on Israeli roads grow each year, with 1500 vehicles sold in 2020, and 350 charging stations across Israel.
Jan. 7th: Mobility solutions provider Via Transportation, Inc. (ויה), teams up with Japanese insurance giant Sompo to decrease car accidents caused by elderly in Japan. Sompo and Via has launched a new transport service in the city of Chino to support the Japanese government initiative to reduce the number of accidents caused by the elderly, who make up 40% of the city’s 55,000 population, by providing them with alternatives for commute in the city and eventually give up their license. The app, called NORAZA will allow passengers to order smart AI-based transport services or order a ride through a telephone call center operated and allow elderly residents as well as the general public to travel around the city.
Jan. 7th: Software-based tactile sensing provider Tactile Mobility (טקטייל מוביליטי), secures strategic investment from global developer of steering and ADAS systems, Nexteer Automotive and The Group Ventures to support growing demand for tactile virtual sensing and data. The investment act as an extension to the previous $9 million round led by Porsche, bringing Tactile’s total funding to over $20M. Tactile’s technology provides sensing and data for smart and autonomous vehicles by using the vehicle’s non-visual, existing sensors to maximize safety, user-experience and driving efficiency and analyze it to yield actionable insights in real-time.
Jan. 11th: Autonomous driving platform start-up, founded by former Innoviz employees, SoftRide Technologies (סופטרייד טכנולוגיות בע”מ) partners with developer of EZRaider, DSRaider to produce an autonomous vehicle equipped with LiDAR to the defence industry. Together, the two will offer the EZRaider with autonomous capabilities, at a quarter of the price of existing autonomous military vehicles. The EZRaider is a four-wheeled vehicle that can be operated sitting down or standing up with a range of 80 kilometers (50 miles) and a capacity to carry hundreds of kilograms of equipment. More than a thousand units of EZRaider have already been sold to a range of defence and civilian organizations. SoftRide’s technology uses LiDAR sensors and perception algorithms in order to provide an autonomous kit that enables users to transform existing vehicles that operate in closed-zone areas, such as production facilities, ports and farms, into self-driving vehicles.
Jan. 11th: Arbe (ארבה), announced a partnership with Sweden’s leading Telecommunications company, Qamcom to bring 4D imaging radar to major new industries. The deal will expand Arbe’s 4D imaging radar solution to additional vehicle applications like trucks, buses, delivery PODS, and industrial verticals like industrial robots, security systems, ground protection, drones and traffic monitoring. Qamcom will offer the customization of the imaging radar systems based on Arbe’s chipset technology, that will serve the unique function of each vehicle or application, in various implementations scales. Arbe’s radar target to separate, track and identify objects in 2K resolution in both azimuth and elevation, achieved via a proprietary chipset of 48 receiving and 48 transmitting RF channels and a dedicated processor chip.
Jan. 11th: Mobileye announces it is developing its own LiDAR and radar for autonomous vehicles. Mobileye announced at the annual CES convention its intention of developing a LiDAR-on-a-chip product incorporating its own software and production based on Intel’s Photonics technology. The new chip will have advanced capabilities at low prices from mass production. Mobileye is also developing a high-resolution radar-on-a-chip unit and the two new sensors target to back up Mobileye’s advanced camera system.
Mobileye also announced at the convention it intends to intensify its collaboration with Chinese automotive company Geely and will supply the Chinese company and its subsidiaries millions of ADAS kits as well as level 4 and above kits for Geely’s next generation EV. On the other hand, Mobileye has terminated its strategic collaboration, signed just last month, with Chinese EV developer NIO, that intends to collaborate with Intel’s competitor, Nvidia. The supply contract between Mobileye and NIO will continue, and NIO will supply to Mobileye dozens of its ES8 vehicles, which will serve as a platform for the autonomous taxi service that Mobileye plans to launch in Israel.
Jan. 12th: Gett Inc. raises $15 million to complete $115 million financing round. According to the company, it raised the additional $15 million to accommodate interest from new investor Pelham Capital Investments Ltd. and existing investors, and proceeds will be used to further accelerate the development of the SaaS platform and the company’s global expansion. The last round brought the company to a $1.5 billion valuation.
Jan. 13th: Developer of automated security platform for IoT and embedded software Vdoo (VDOO Connected Trust Ltd) raises additional $25 million. The company extended its Series B financing round that was led by Qumra Capital and Verizon Ventures. The $57 million raised in this round brings Vdoo total capital to $70 million. VDOO enables automotive OEMs and Tier1s to manage the security of their embedded devices throughout the supply chain and the entire product lifecycle from SDLC to operation. The platform automatically analyzes each component’s binary resulting in a full security posture and offers a SW-based IDS for real-time protection.
Jan. 14th: Provider of autonomous system simulation software, Cognata Ltd. (קוגנטה) and British company Five are launching a joint solution for testing autonomous driving systems. The solution will allow development teams to test and train autonomous driving systems and Automated Lane Keeping Systems, which currently exist in driver assistance systems (ADAS). Five has developed a software system that generates scenarios of road situations, including all situations defined in the openSCENARIO industry standard. Cognata’s product allows autonomous vehicle manufacturers to test drive their artificial intelligence decision algorithms on Cognata’s platform.
Jan. 18th: French autonomous driving systems developer Navya launched first autonomous shuttle service in Israel’s Sheba Hospital. Navya equipped the Sheba Medical Center campus for the country’s first public daily service of autonomous mobility. The Autonom ® Shuttle integrates with the Center’s existing Sheba Bus shuttle service to transport passengers around its campus. The pilot project is led by the Israel Innovation Authority and the Israel Ministry of Transport, in cooperation with ST Engineering and will be operated in collaboration with Blue White Robotics. As part of this project, Navya is providing the autonomous driving systems as well as the electric shuttle and associated services. The route is a loop of about 2.1km and serves the main hospital buildings sharing the road with existing bus lines. Israel is the 23rd country in which Navya is deploying its solutions.
Jan. 19th: Former executive at Volvo Cars and Audi AG, Investor Dr. Ing. Peter Mertens invests in Israeli start-up V-HOLA Labs (VHOLA). The investor has participated in a pre-seed investment of the start-up and joined its board. Founded in 2019, VHOLA developed an embedded in-vehicle solution, enabling control and optimization of the electromagnetic radiation (EMR) levels inside the passenger cabin in fully or hybrid electric vehicles. VHOLA’s solution is applicable in the aftermarket vehicles’ radiation detector by helping fleet managers to analyze their vehicles behaviour over time, as well in integrated solution implemented at vehicle’s design, helping OEMs preventing harmful radiation peaks by regulating the energy flow and EMR throughout the vehicle’s lifetime.
Jan. 19th: Organic fast-charging batteries developer, StoreDot (סטורדוט בע”מ) launches its first-generation 5-minute charge battery engineering samples. The sample cells were produced by StoreDot’s strategic partner in China, EVE Energy Co., Ltd. and were targeted to demonstrate the full charge of a two-wheeled EV in just 5 minutes. StoreDot extreme fast charging (XFC) batteries are designed to be produced on existing Lithium-Ion production lines at EVE Energy and uses proprietary materials, including organic compounds, in place of typical lithium components to allow safe and quick charging. StoreDot’s other strategic investors include BP, Daimler, Samsung Ventures and TDK.
Jan. 19th: Developer of automated vehicle-inspection systems, UVeye (UVEYE) secures strategic investment from Hyundai Motor Company. The financial details were disclosed, but UVeye said that company has now raised more than $40M. In previous rounds $35.5M were raised from other strategic investment including Toyota, Volvo and W.R.Berkley Corporation. UVeye develops automated vehicle inspection systems powered by artificial intelligence and proprietary hardware. The company’s unified inspection-as-a-service deep-learning platform provides an objective, scalable, and efficient standard practice for identifying issues in vehicles as they progress through the automotive lifecycle.
Jan. 24th: Foldable electric city car developer City Transformer (סיטי טרנספורמר) plans an IPO on Tel Aviv stock exchange at a valuation of NIS 450-600M (~$140-180M). Founded in 2014, City Transformer has developed a 2.49 meters long and 1.4 meters wide car with a special structure that can fold up to just 1 meter wide for parking in narrow spaces. The vehicle has a capacity for an adult driver and two children on the back seat or a load of up to 1,000 liters, the passenger area is rigid and is not impacted by the car folding. The electric car has a range of 180km and can travel at a maximum speed of 90kph. The IPO is expected on the second quarter of 2021 and the beginning of the vehicle’s serial production planned for 2022.
Jan. 24th: Kardome Technology (Kardome) wins start-up competition with its better ‘ears’ for machines. The Israeli IP consulting firm, Reinhold Cohn Group held its 2021 startup competition and chose Kardome as the winner. Kardome developed a microphone capable of providing a spatial focus on a desired speaker in acoustically challenging environments. Its speech-enhancing algorithms identify and attenuate wind noise in real time, enabling the microphone to operate at 0.63 on the Speech Intelligibility Index, almost three times higher than the operating level of standard microphones.
Jan. 24th: AI-based city-wide traffic management startup Axilion Smart Mobility (Axilion Ltd.), won a bid to build a twin digital city in Colorado. The project will be conducted in partnership with Microsoft and engineering firm, Mead&Hunt. The digital city will be based on Microsoft’s Azure cloud infrastructure to analyze the transportation system in Pitkin County and the city of Aspen in Colorado. As part of the project, Axilion will provide AI-based cameras that include GPS and are connected in real time to the Microsoft Azure cloud as an IoT, which will be installed on vehicles in the selected areas. The collected data will help build the “twin digital city” and will enable a comprehensive transportation and a public transportation analysis, aimed to help manage public transportation and improve public transportation efficiency and increasing safety for all road users, particularly pedestrians, cyclists and scooters.
Jan. 25th: Israeli wireless vehicle charging company ElectReon Wireless Ltd. (אלקטריאון) presented a dynamic wireless charging system in Sweden. The company has completed the deployment of 1.65km dynamic wireless charging system on a public road in Gotland, Sweden. A fully electric long-haul truck was charged by the road while driving at various speeds of up to 60 km/h on a 200-meter electric road segment, with an average transfer rate of 70 kW from the road to the receivers and into the truck’s battery. The system reached stable operation with consistent results, and testing confirmed that snow and ice do not affect the wireless charging capabilities. The Company proved the robustness of its proprietary cloud-based software by remotely operating, monitoring, and testing the system from the company’s headquarters in Israel.
Jan 25th: Israeli automated industrial and security drone developer Airobortics (אירובוטיקס) aims to raise $50M in an IPO on Tel Aviv stock exchange. The company is planning the IPO for May at a valuation of $180M, and it will be led by Leumi Partners Underwriters. Founded in 2014, Airobotics has already raised $120 million in financing rounds, most recent was in October 2018. Previous investors include Waze former CEO, Noam Bardin, UpWest Labs, Temasek Singapore’s Pavilion Capital, BlueRun Ventures, Microsoft investment arm M12, Intel Capital, OurCrowd, and Wolfpack. Airobotics has developed a fully automated end-to-end drone solution, used for collecting data, surveillance and gaining aerial insights, controlling, and checking industrial, infrastructure and military sights, patrolling borders and other strategic locations including mines, ports, gas and oil installations, and factories.
Sources: Tech Time, The Marker, CTech, CISION PR Newswire, Globes, Nvidia, Start-Up Nation Central, Sponsor, Business Wire, Navya, YouTube, Bloomberg
