Silicon Valley Driverless-Car Startup Raises Fresh Capital
May 27 2016 - 1:30PM
Dow Jones News
The backer of a Silicon Valley autonomous car developer called
Zoox said the secretive startup raised a fresh round of capital
valuing it at more than $1 billion, roughly equal to a similar
company General Motors Co. acquired earlier this month.
Zoox executives have been tight-lipped, saying little in public
about the Palo Alto, Calif., company's plans. The firm is
developing technology similar to Alphabet Inc.'s Google car project
and Cruise Automation, which GM purchased in a deal valuing it at
more than $1 billion, according to people familiar with the
terms.
Zoox's profile, however, has increased recently amid heightened
interest in autonomous cars and the potential for using them as
self-driving taxis that can be deployed by ride-sharing services
such as Uber Technologies Inc. While auto giants including GM have
been working on self-driving cars for several years, companies like
Zoox could play an important role refining the technology. Zoox is
one of 13 companies that have received licenses from California to
test autonomous vehicles on public roads.
Hong Kong-based AID Partners Capital Holdings Ltd. disclosed
this week a $20 million investment for a Zoox stake that implies a
$1 billion-plus valuation for the startup. AID Chairman and Chief
Investment Officer Kevin Wu believes Zoox can deploy a fleet of
fully autonomous vehicles by 2020 for ride-sharing services like
those Uber offers.
The company's co-founder, Tim Kentley-Klay declined to comment
on the investment. Zoox's co-founder is Jesse Levinson, formerly
one of the lead engineers on Alphabet's self-driving car
program.
Zoox is designing its own self-driving taxi and control system.
It employs 140 people, according to AID, including dozens of
scientists from universities. It also has attracted more than 50
engineers and professionals from Alphabet, electric-car maker Tesla
Motors Inc., Apple Inc., Nvidia Corp. and NASA, the investment firm
said.
Companies working on future transportation technologies are
attracting significant backing from venture-capital investors.
Recently, nuTonomy, a Cambridge, Mass. company working on
self-driving taxi technology in Singapore, disclosed a new $16
million investment. Drive.ai, based in Mountain View, Calif.,
received a $12 million investment a few months ago.
GM's Cruise Automation acquisition, first disclosed in March,
triggered additional interest in the sector. Zoox, however, is
larger and some analysts have said the company is further ahead of
its rivals.
In interviews and presentations given in 2014, Mr. Kentley-Klay
showed the company's blueprint for an oblong-shaped vehicle where
the passenger compartment had four seats facing one another. The
vehicle had large wheels and two vertically rising doors. There was
no distinct front or back in early images of the vehicle
design.
According to investment registration documents, Zoox already
spent nearly $15 million on operations in 2014 and 2015.
Write to Mike Ramsey at michael.ramsey@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 27, 2016 13:15 ET (17:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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