세계의 자동차 스타트업(Automotive Start-up) 각사의 투자액·자금조달액에 관한 조사 및 순위 조사(랭킹)를 실시했습니다.
스타트업의 자금 조달은 성장 기회의 크기와 '니즈 갭'을 채우기 위한 기업의 전략에 대해 몇 가지 신호를 제공합니다.
자동차 산업이 직면하는 가장 큰 과제는 다음과 같습니다.
Auto2x의 자동차 스타트업 투자 데이터베이스는 3,000개 이상의 기업을 추적하고 자금 조달, M&A 및 제휴의 새로운 기회를 밝혀 줍니다.
전기 모빌리티에는 전기자동차와 스쿠터, 배터리, 배터리 재활용, EV 충전 등이 포함됩니다. EV배터리의 신흥기업은 VC로부터의 자금 조달이 감속하고 있음에도 불구하고 여전히 많은 돈을 모으고 있습니다.
2023년 첫 10개월 동안 전기자동차 배터리를 다루는 스타트업에 대한 VC 자금 조달액은 이미 2022년 수준인 78억 달러를 넘어섰습니다.
또한 올해 세계 벤처 투자가 줄어들고 있음에도 불구하고 자금조달액은 2021년 최고액 120억 달러를 상회하는 기세를 보여줬습니다.
전기화에 종사하는 스타트업의 자금조달액은 2년간 120억 달러에 달했습니다. 여기에는 전기자동차, 배터리 등 에너지 저장, 배터리 비즈니스 모델, EV 충전 등이 포함됩니다.
차세대 전기자동차에 착수하는 초기 단계의 스타트업에 대한 자금조달액은 2021년 36억 달러에서 2022년에는 72억 달러로 2배 이상으로 증가했지만, 자율주행과 공유 모빌리티의 비즈니스 모델에 대한 자금 조달 금액이 축소되었습니다.
자율주행 스타트업 자금은 2021년 35억 달러에서 20억 달러로 급감한 격동의 2022년 이후 2023년에는 291달러로 회복되었습니다.
자율주행차를 다루는 초기 단계의 스타트업은 2021년 1분기부터 2023년 1분기까지 2년간 60억 달러의 자금을 확보하고 있습니다.
유럽의 스타트업이 조달한 초기 단계의 자금 조달의 절반은 레벨 4의 자동 운전 소프트웨어의 개발 지원에 충당되고 있으며, 17%는 자동 운전 트럭용으로 되어 있습니다.
Mobility-as-a Service, 대출, 보험, 유지 보수 등을 포함한 모빌리티 비즈니스 모델의 자동차 스타트업 자금 조달액은 60억 달러에 이르렀고, 자율주행차(60억 달러)가 대부분을 차지했습니다.
자동차 업계의 초기 단계인 Web3용 스타트업 대출은 분산화, 프라이버시, 투명성을 지원하는 Web3이 2021년 2,900만 달러에서 2022년 3,600만 달러로 증가했습니다.
WEB3의 유럽 초기 단계의 스타트업은 2021년부터 2023년 1분기까지 520만 달러의 자금을 조달했습니다. 자금 조달액은 2021년 120만 달러에서 2022년 3배의 370만 달러로 증가했습니다.
자동차용 AI 벤처기업의 초기 단계 자금조달액은 2021년 14억 달러에서 2022년 9억 6,000만 달러(31% 감소)로 축소되었습니다. AI의 자금조달액은 2021년 1분기부터 2023년 1분기까지 189자금 라운드에서 24억 달러에 달했습니다.
중국은 2021년 1분기부터 2023년 1분기 사이에 120개의 라운드로 129억 달러를 확보하고 자동차 스타트업 자금 조달로 선도하고 있습니다.
LYJStartups have identified how to solve some of the biggest challenges the Automotive industry faces.
Start-up funding provides some signals of how big the opportunities are for growth and the strategy of players to close the "need gap".
Some of the biggest challenges the automotive industry faces are:
Auto2x Automotive Start-up Investment Database tracks more than 3000 entities to unveil new opportunities for funding, M&A and collaborations.
Electric Mobility includes electric cars or scooters, batteries, battery-recycling and EV-Charging. EV battery startups still attract significant capital, despite the slowdown in VC funding.
In the first 10 months of 2023, VC funding in startups working in Electric Vehicle batteries has already surpassed the 2022 level of $7.8 Billion.
The funding is also in trajectory to surpass the 2021 high of $12 Billion, despite the fact that global venture investment has decreased this year.
Redwood Materials has secured $4.4 Billion total funding. The Nevada-based battery recycling startup founded by former Tesla CTO JB Straubel, picked up $1 billion in Series D funding.
The company also acquired REDUX Recycling GmbH, a German battery recycler, in the end of September 2023.
Chinese EV startup Hozon or Neta Auto, raised about $960 million (7 billion yuan) in pre-IPO funding round.
Stack AV, a US startup working on autonomous systems for the trucking business founded by Argo AI's execs, is now backed by SoftBank with more than $1 Billion.
Funding in early-stage Automotive startups, which includes Pre-Seed, Seed, A and B Series, slowed down from $12.2 Billion in 2021 to $10.9 Billion in 2022 and just $1.5B in Q1 2023, according to data from Crunchbase.
The selection of the two-year period reflects the activity since the startup of the COVID-19 pandemic and the development of the "New Normal" in the automotive industry in terms of an accelerated shift to energy independence, sustainability and software-driven business models.
Funding in start-ups working on Electrification amounted to $12 Billion for the 2-year period. This includes electric vehicles, energy storage like batteries, battery business models and EV charging.
Funding in early-stage start-ups working on next-generation Electric Vehicles more than doubled in 2022 to $7.2 Billion, from $3.6 in 2021; while funding in Autonomous and Shared Mobility business models shrunk, Auto2x.
The Top funding rounds in Electric Cars and EV charging infrastructure between Q1 2021 and Q1 2023 went mostly to Chinese premium EV brands of major Chinese manufacturers.
After a turbulent 2022, when funding in Autonomous Driving start-ups plummeted to $2 Billion, down from $3.5 Billion in 2021, 2023 saw recovery to $2.91.
Early-stage start-ups working on autonomous vehicles secured $6 Billion funding in the 2-year period between Q1 2021 and Q1 2023, Auto2x.
The Top-3 automotive start-up funding rounds in Autonomous Driving / Autonomous Vehicles came from Chinese start-ups working on Level 4 autonomy which provides un-supervised driving.
European Autonomous Driving start-ups secured $0.71 Billion funding since 2021, across 87 rounds.
Half of the early-stage funding raised by European start-ups is supporting the development of Level 4 Autonomous Driving Software, while 17% is for Autonomous Trucks, Auto2x analysis.
The distribution of funding by core technology taxonomy and business segment reveals a heavier share in software and mobility services, which hold the big potential in revolutionizing safety and convenience.
Early-stage funding in Autonomous Driving Start-ups, which includes Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A and B, only amounted to $483 Million in Q1 2024, up from $183M in Q1 2023.
The 3-fold increase in funding year-on-year, couple with the fact that early-stage funding accounted for almost half of the overall Q1 2024 funding, is a positive signals towards investor interest in autonomous driving start-ups.
The largest deals came from Series A from P3 and Zeros in autonomous mobility.
Automotive start-up funding in Mobility business models, which include mobiility-as-a-service, financing, insurance and maintanance secured $6 Billion and autonomous vehicles ($6B) accounted for most of the funding.
To learn more about the strategies of carmakers in shared mobility and their business models in sharing, EV charging, parking and financing, read our report.
Early-stage automotive start-up funding in Web3, which supports the decentralization, privacy and transparency, rose from $29 Million in 2021 to $36 Million in 2022.
Early-stage European start-ups in WEB3 raised $5.2 million in fundings between 2021 and Q1 2023. Funding amount tripled in 2022 to $3.7 million, from $1.2 million in 2021.
Early-stage funding in AI Automotive start-ups shrunk by 31% in 2022 to $0.96 Billion, from $1.40 Billion in 2021. AI funding amounted to $2.4 Billion between Q1 2021 and Q1 2023, across 189 funding rounds.
In Q1 2023, automotive start-up funding amounted to $57 million, down from $398M in Q1 2021 and $539M in Q1 2022.
AI Automotive start-up funding accounted for 10% of overall early-stage Automotive Start-up funding in the 2 Year-Period, down from 12% in 2021.
AI in Autonomous Driving holds the lion's share in terms of funding with 85% share of the total funding in the 2-year period ($2 Billion).
Robotaxis and Robobus providers led by China's WeRide and DeepRoute.ai, together with Level 4-Autonomous Driving Software developers, such as UK's Wayve, were the main AI use cases in terms of funding amount.
Top5 AI start-ups in Autonomous Driving by funding amount between Q1 2021 and Q1 2023
AI for mobility business models follows with $0.25 Billion led by UK insurtech provider Flock.
China leads Automotive Start-up funding with $12.9 Billion secured across 120 rounds between Q1 2021 and Q1 2023.
Chinese carmakers are very active in the development of New Energy Vehicle offerings and new mobility business models.
China is driven by its ambition to transform from a production-based economy to an innovative economy and allocate a vast amount of private-venture capital.
New Energy Vehicles are crucial to this plan. NEVs include Battery Electric Cars, Plug-in-Hybrids and Fuel-Cell vehicles.