What’s happening with Porsche’s IPO plan? Which AI vehicle software company raised $63 million?

Welcome to this episode of The Friday 5 with Steve Greenfield, Founder and CEO of Automotive Ventures, an automotive technology consultancy that helps entrepreneurs raise capital and maximize the value of their business.

VW Group and Porsche

First off this week, it looks increasingly likely that we’ll see the Volkswagen Group transform the Porsche brand into its own standalone public company before the end of the year.

The IPO, which is expected to be one of the biggest ever listings in Germany, could value Porsche as much as 90 billion euros, or US$91.5 billion.

Volkswagen has so far stuck to its schedule of a fourth-quarter listing for Porsche, although tough market conditions are causing further stock offerings to be postponed.

If you recall, Ferrari went public in October 2015 to much fanfare as it spun off from FCA. Ferrari went public at a market cap of $9 billion and is currently valued at $36 billion.

For comparison, the market capitalization of Ferrari’s former parent company, Stellantis, is only a little higher, at $37 billion.

In hindsight, given the recent turmoil in the public markets, a Porsche bid should have taken place last year.

That said, I’ll be keeping a close eye on how this story unfolds for the rest of the year.

Aurora Laboratories

Next, AI vehicle software company Aurora Labs completed a $63 million Series C funding round, which included Porsche as a strategic investor. This latest round brings the total amount raised by Aurora Labs to $100 million.

Aurora Labs, founded in 2016, provides AI-powered vehicle software intelligence that enables vehicle manufacturers, Tier 1 suppliers, silicon suppliers and enterprises to develop, certify and diagnose software and perform live updates.

The solution also protects vehicle software against failures and cybersecurity attacks, while allowing manufacturers to continuously add new features and functions that extend device life and improve user experience.

As I’ve noted in the past, innovation in Over the Air technology is coming quickly to dealerships, who need to stay on top of developments and innovation in the space.

On the one hand, expect that much of the recall work, typically done at franchise dealerships, can be beamed directly to consumer cars over wifi connections. That means fewer visits to dealerships for warranty work, and some industry sources say dealer recall work could be cut by a third.

Additionally, many automakers have announced that a whole new wave of subscription services will be coming for car owners. Consider unlocking heated seats, upgraded headlights, unlocking additional power, or improving vehicle driving dynamics, all sold as monthly services.

Many of these new and improved features will be incorporated, via software updates, into the consumer’s car long after the dealership has been the original point of sale. The Over the Air update technology, integrated into the new wave of connected cars, will unlock this type of functionality.

It remains to be determined how the subscription revenue for these new services will be shared between the OEM and the dealer.

I will continue to monitor new developments in the live and subscription services space.

If you have any specific thoughts on this issue, please drop me a note at Steve@automotiveventures.com. I would like to discuss it with you.

Companies to watch

Each week, we highlight interesting automotive technology companies to watch. If you read my Intel Monthly Industry Report, I feature a few companies each month, and we take the opportunity here on Friday the fifth to share some of these companies each week with you.

Today we have two companies to watch: LoopMeIn and Preteckt.

LoopMeIn

LoopMeIn claims to be the industry’s only comprehensive pre-owned lifecycle management software.

They have over 75 years of combined industry knowledge in nearly every aspect of dealership life, which led the company to create an app to make everyone’s life in the dealership easier, more efficient and more reliable.

The company focuses on reconditioning management, supplier management, integrated communication tools, vehicle inspections and centralized billing, connecting it all in one application.

The reason I love LoopMeIn is that most of the innovation over the past 20 years has been on the variable side of dealership operations. It’s great to see innovative new companies focusing on one of the dealership’s biggest profit centers, fixed operations.

You can check out LoopMeIn at www.LoopMeIn.app.

Preteckt

Preteckt is a maintenance-focused AI and IoT company to increase vehicle uptime, improve safety, reduce costs, support maintenance personnel, and enable the future of work. It allows technicians to identify and access root causes 40% faster.

Preteckt develops next-generation sustainable fuel vehicle technology and helps service providers transition from legacy technologies to green technologies.

Maintenance, maintainers and digital workflow are their initial area of ​​focus.

The reason I love Preteckt is that with all the data currently being captured from connected cars, it’s exciting to see an emerging wave of companies focusing on harnessing all of this data into intelligence to predict when key components could fail and predict service opportunities.

You can view Preteckt at www.Preteckt.com.

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So that’s your weekly Friday the 5th, a quick recap of the big deals in automotive technology over the past week.

If you’re a young automotive tech entrepreneur looking to raise cash, or an entrepreneur trying to decide if and when to raise cash or sell your business, I’d love to talk to you.

Thanks for tuning in to CBT News for this week’s Friday Five, and see you next week!

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