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Good morning

Benedict Evans, Partner at Silicon Valley-based VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, recommended our trend report The State of Travel & Mobility Tech in his widely-read tech newsletter this week. Thanks to this citation, we're happy to welcome hundreds of new subscribers to our mailing list. Thanks for the love, Ben and friends.

You’re at the right place to learn more about the radical shifts affecting the Travel & Mobility Tech sector.

This being said, we have another major research piece for you today: The New Transportation Leaderboard. More on that below. Enjoy.

Lennart Dobravsky
Director Research & Intelligence, Lufthansa Innovation Hub

Research

The 150+ hottest new transportation companies – all in one infographic

The transportation landscape is expanding rapidly.

Hundreds of startups and a growing number of traditional mobility providers (e.g. automotive OEMs) are equipping our cities with new mobility modes to cover short and long distances.

E-scooters, bike-sharing, ride-hailing, car-pooling, futuristic air-taxis, and hyperloop solutions... The list is getting longer and longer.

It’s hard to keep track of all these new forms of mobility that have the potential to further change the transportation environment as we know it.

To provide more clarity, we developed the New Transportation Leaderboard

It's a comprehensive infographic that maps:

the 16 major categories within New Transportation
more than 150 innovation leaders across all segments
the estimated average distances traveled with each mode of transport

It's a monster of a research piece, so go check it out in high-resolution with lots of context in article format via the link below.

READ IN FULL

Startups

New kids on the block

Startups in Travel & Mobility Tech have raised unprecedented amounts of Venture Capital in recent years ($43.891 billion to be exact – see our report).

But not all startup and Venture Capital trends are pointing towards a bright future in our industry

For instance, the share of angel and seed deals has been on a downward path for the third year in a row.

Why is this the case

Many investors have shifted their attention to later-stage companies with visible product/market fit. Meanwhile, startups at the seed stage struggle to raise the necessary funding to get their ideas off the ground.

This trend can become a serious problem for the Travel & Mobility Tech ecosystem over the long-run as new generations of up-and-coming startups could face a lasting financing gap. This would crucially slow down innovation dynamics in the travel and mobility context.

So, a shout out to all investors out there: re-focus on the next generation of innovative disruptors again!

To provide some help, we’ve partnered with startup-discovery provider Startupdetector to present the “new kids on the block” in the German Travel & Mobility Tech startup ecosystem.

We listed all Travel & Mobility Tech startups that have been filed in the German company registry since Q4/2018

Chronologically ordered. Equipped with a brief company description. And updated on a quarterly basis. Check it out.

SEE THE FULL LIST

Press Picks

Our recommended must reads

BOEING WANTS TO FLY EVEN HIGHER – Boeing is set to invest in one of Richard Branson's Virgin Group’s space-related projects. The American manufacturing giant will invest up to $20 million.
Read more in Simpleflying

NEW AIR-TAXI PROTOTYPE REVEALED – Kitty Hawk, the aviation startup backed by Google co-founder Larry Page and strategic partner of Boeing, revealed its secret project – Heaviside. The company had been working on the quiet electric aircraft for several years.
Read more on TechCrunch

KLM AND MICROSOFT TEAM UP – Dutch airline KLM and tech giant Microsoft have partnered to co-operate on sustainable air travel initiatives and to develop a 'blueprint' outlining how the aviation sector can decarbonize in line with the Paris Agreement.
Read more on edie

3D MAPPING ENTIRE CITIES – Waymo, the autonomous vehicle company under Alphabet and #1 AV contender in our New Transportation Leaderboard, has started creating 3D maps in Los Angeles to better understand congestion there and determine if its self-driving vehicles would be a good fit in the city.
Read more on TechCrunch

CARBON-IMPACT DATA FOR FLIGHTS AND RAIL – Travel management company TripActions – one of the 44 unicorns in Travel & Mobility Tech – will provide its customers data on the emissions output of their travel programs, both at a company-wide and individual traveler level.
Read more in Phocuswire

Funding Update

Most recent Venture Capital deals

= Exit Alert (startup listed on the stock exchange or got acquired)

= Unicorn Alert (post-deal company valuation at >$1B)

OYO – the Indian operator of budget hotels and a platform for hotel bookings is looking to raise $1.5B with founder Agarwal to invest $700M.

Bird – the American operator of e-scooters raised $275M in Series D funding from Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Sequoia Capital, and further investors.

Relativity Space – the American operator of an aerospace factory intended for 3D printing and automation of rocket production raised $140M in Series C funding from Tribe Capital, Bond Capital, and further investors.

Tier – the Berlin-based developer of an electric scooter sharing platform raised $60M in funding from Mubadala Ventures, Goodwater Capital, and further investors.

DeepRoute – the Chinese developer of a level-4 self driving system raised $50M from Fosun RZ Capital, GSR Ventures, and further investors.

Beyond Pricing – the San Francisco-based operator of a pricing platform deigned to offer pricing for vacation rental properties raised $42M in Series A funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, Bullpen Capital, and further investors.

CODE42 – the Korean developer of an autonomous transportation-as-a-service platform raised $25M in seed funding from Kia Motors, LG Electronics, and further investors.

Aero – the American provider of premium flight services intended to offer nonstop, roundtrip flights between Ibiza and Mykonos raised $16M in funding from GGV Capital and Expa.

Impala – the London-based provider of an API for hotel data raised $11M in Series A funding from Kima Ventures, Stride.VC, and further undisclosed investors.

WhistleDrive – the Hyderabad-based provider of technology-enabled fleet services raised $10M in Series B funding from the Colosseum Group.

Snappcar – the Dutch developer of a peer-to-peer carsharing platform raised $8M in funding from AutoBinck, Kuwait Petroleum International, and further investors.

Waycare – the Israeli provider of a SaaS based platform intended to predict and prevent traffic crashes raised $7.25M in funding from SJF Ventures, Innogy and further investors.

Situm – the Spanish developer of an indoor location technology platform designed for airports and train/bus stations' users raised $3.3M in funding from Swanlaab Venture Factory, Prosegur Tech Ventures, and further investors.

Unagi Scooters – the American manufacturer of electric scooters raised $3.1M in funding from Menlo Ventures.

HalalBooking – the United Kingdom-based operator of a search and booking platform for halal-friendly travel raised $2M in funding from Azar Gurbanov, FSAstore, and further individual investors.

LateRooms – the Manchester-based provider of a hotel booking platform was acquired by Secret Escapes for an undisclosed amount.

DeepScale – the American developer of an artificial intelligence based visual perception platform was acquired by Tesla for an undisclosed amount.