Investors pumped over $6.2 billion into some 150 transportation-related companies around the world in the third-quarter, and that’s more the $6.1 billion invested in the segment during the whole of the previous year. This activity was fuelled by action in the autonomous driving and ride-hailing spaces, as well as the prospect of big acquisitions, with around a dozen companies picking $100 million-plus in venture funding, according to Crunchbase data.
Ground transportation is facing a major shake-up in multiple areas and firms are looking to innovate in areas such as driving technology, electric vehicles, and ride-hailing platforms, while new e-commerce and mobile platforms for buying/insuring cars are gaining market share.
TechCrunch also points to companies active in the autonomous driving space getting acquired early in their development, and going for huge sums. GM shelled out $1 billion in March to purchase three-year-old Cruise Automation, while in August, Uber stumped up an estimated $700 million for Otto, a six-month-old self-driving trucks outfit.
“Venture-backed transportation start-ups still prefer to exit through acquisition,” says TechCrunch. “No companies in the space went public, or filed to do so, in the third quarter.”
