Weekly Wrap #82: It’s as EV as ‘ABC’
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It’s as EV as ‘ABC’
According to the Electric Vehicle Council, we’re on “the precipice of an EV economic boom.” EV sales tripled in 2021 to make up 1.95% of all new vehicle sales (20.6k sold). Tesla’s Model 3 was the most popular EV model in 2021, accounting for over 60% of those EV sales. But good luck trying to get one of these down under - wait times have blown out to 7 months.
Not only are we starting to buy more EVs, but Australia—with rich mineral reserves, strong industrial infrastructure, and a highly skilled manufacturing workforce—has the potential to become an EV-manufacturing powerhouse, says Australia Institute’s Carmichael Centre.
Local EV tech news is slowly but surely charging ahead, too. Just this week:
Tesla announced a major deal with Australian minnow, Liontown Resources to buy Lithium Spodumene Concentrate from its new $473m Kathleen Valley Lithium Project in WA’s Goldfields region.
RMIT received a $5.2m grant to build an EV research facility, scheduled to open mid-2023. Research activity will be focussed around a new EV “living lab with EV charging stations, regenerative grid and battery simulators.”
Carbar raised $28.9m led by IAG and Seven West Media for its car subscription service. The Melbourne startup also established a debt facility to increase its fleet, including a sizeable EV expansion - 25% of total cars, up from 5%.
JET Charge raised $25m+ led by RACV, with backing from the federal government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and Carsales founder Greg Roebuck. JET Charge supplies and installs EV chargers, and says it is the market leader in Australian EV charging infrastructure and technology. It also has a growing presence in NZ.
The CEFC is spinning out a specialist VC fund, Virescent Ventures, which is raising $200m to invest in cleantech startups. The CEFC is expected to be a cornerstone investor, alongside super funds and other investors.
Aussie births & firsts
Sydney launches into space. A National Space Industry Hub has been launched in Sydney with a $2.1m investment by the NSW government and Deep Tech incubator Cicada Innovations. Sydney-based Spiral Blue’s ‘Project Rainbow Python’ has secured a further $578k (now $2.97m in total) thanks to co-investment from the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre. The Rainbow Python is a world-first integrated hyperspectral instrument and onboard computer, which can be used for chemical analysis of any location on Earth (e.g. for agriculture, forestry, mining purposes).
Shark drones. Ripper Corporation’s drones powered by world-first AI technology from University of Technology Sydney are being used this summer to spots sharks near our beaches with a 90% accuracy.
“It has already fundamentally enhanced the way we patrol and there’s no question it will change the way lives are saved in marine environments in the future,” [founder Kevin] Weldon says. “It’s like rubber duckies – once lifeguards saw them in action there was no going back.”
Buying crypto. SelfWealth will become the first local online share trading platform to foray into crypto, after inking a deal with digital currency exchange BTC Markets. Subject to clearance from financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC, investors will be able to trade units in 5 cryptocurrency tokens in a few months. Competition in the share trading space is set to further intensify - Chinese-backed group Tiger Brokers plans to launch here in March.
Canva’s first donation. In September, Canva founders Obrecht and Perkins pledged to give away 30% of the tech company’s total valuation ($55bn as at Sept) to charitable causes. This week it was announced the first donation will be an initial $250k to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, where 24 million people are on the brink of starvation.
A rebirth. Women-only rideshare Shebah has been saved from collapse under new ownership.
BNPL’s first strike. After close scrutiny from regulators, BNPL firms including Afterpay, Openpay and Klarna have agreed to update their UK contract terms relating to contract cancellation and continuous payment. The companies also agreed to voluntarily refund people charged certain late fees. Regulation is looming in Australia too, as concerns for consumers increase. According to a January survey, 25% of Aussies had an outstanding BNPL balance after Christmas and the average debt was $391.56. 27% of BNPL users say they have paid a late fee.
Local raise round up
Employment Hero raised $181m from SEEK Investments, OneVentures, AirTree and others, making it Australia’s latest unicorn at a $1.25bn valuation. The HR & people management platform company also acquired payroll software KeyPay for an undisclosed amount. Following the acquisition, Employment Hero now has more than 80,000 SME clients, collectively managing more than 750,000 employees. Incredible.
Soul Machines raised NZ$105m (US$70m) led by SoftBank. The company creates animated, intelligent digital avatars or ‘Digital People’ used by major consumer brands such as Proctor and Gamble and Nestle to interact with customers online and on screen. It also plans to launch into the metaverse with hyperrealistic digital twins of real life celebrities.
Protecht raised $42m (US$30m) for enterprise risk management platform. Bootstrapped for 22 years, Protecht is now forecast to generate more than $20m revenue in 2022 from clients such as Toyota Australia, Sydney Opera House and Tyro.
Emesent raised $32m from Perennial, Tiger Global and others. Established out of CSIRO research, Emesent’s Hovermap technology uses drones and vehicles to create detailed 3D maps of inaccessible areas like mines and underground infrastructure.
Change Foods raised $21.5m led by Route 66 Ventures for its animal-free “cheese” using fermented microbes.
All G Foods raised (undisclosed) from Woolworths’ W23 for its alt-meat products. It currently sells a plant-based burger in IGA, and is looking to develop a range of alt-meat, faux “milk” and other “cow-free dairy” products.
PropHero raised $1.6m for its property investment platform. The round was led by GFC Global Founders Capital and supported by AfterWork Ventures, Jelix Ventures and The Fund.
Safe Gauge raised $1.6m from a syndicate of more than 30 investors from Sydney Angels. Safe Gauge’s live testing solutions ensure the safety of workers in mining, construction, defence, rail and agriculture.
HEX raised $1.25m for its “innovation gap year” program. Founder Jeanette Cheah says HEX’s $685 ($US490) program is like a “new kind of undergraduate degree”, teaching real-world skills like financial literacy, ethics and coding.
U.S. Stocks & Super Bowl Sunday
The tables have turned. The last of the U.S. listed company results are in for this quarter. As we settle into life with Covid, ecommerce stocks that were booming are slowing, while those in the physical realm rebound:
Slowing Shopify. Shopify revenue was up 41% YoY with quarterly revenue of $1.38bn and annual revenue of $4.6bn. However shares tumbled more than 16% after the company warned that it doesn’t expect that growth rate to continue in 2022 and capex will rise (the company is ramping up its fulfillments offering). Shares are down 50%+ this year.
DoorDash delivers. Shares as much as 32% after DoorDash reported better-than-expected revenue in the fourth quarter. Total order value grew 36% to $11.2bn and revenue grew 34% Y/Y to $1.3bn.
Airbnb minting machine. Airbnb also reported better-than-expected results. Revenue was $1.53bn, up 78% YoY. Perhaps even more impressive, Airbnb generated $2.2bn in free cash flow (the amount of cash produced after spending on capex) on just $6bn in revenue in 2021. What’s more, Airbnb is expecting its 1Q2022 nights and experiences booked to significantly exceed pre-pandemic (1Q2019) levels. Bet CEO Brian Chesky’s stress levels have come down significantly since May 2020, when Airbnb had to borrow $1bn+ and make cuts to 25% of its workforce to stay afloat.
Super investors. Acclaimed artists including Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre and Eminem made history as the first rap-focussed Super Bowl halftime show. But did you know they’re also big-time tech investors and entrepreneurs?
The D.O.G.G. is the founder of Casa Verde Capital and has made 12 personal investments in startups like Reddit, Robinhood and Klarna.
Rapper and producer extraordinaire, Dr Dre is the founder of Beats, which raised $800m in venture and private equity funding before Apple acquired it for $3.2bn in 2014.
Eminem dabbled in venture too, with investments in song lyrics and musical knowledge platform Genius and digital creation platform MakersPlace.
Move over Pepsi. Coinbase's Super Bowl ad might be one of the most effective marketing campaigns, ever. The company reportedly paid around $14m for a 60-second ad, which simply bounced a QR code around on a black screen. The QR code led to a promotion where new signups to Coinbase received $15 in bitcoin, while existing users got the chance to win $3m in prizes. The company had more than 20 million hits on its landing page in one minute, crashing the app. Installs on Sunday jumped 309% week-over-week, and continued to climb by another 286% the following day. Meta and others tried to jump onto Coinbase’s coattails:
Side note, this curiosity drop tactic is also a really effective way to scam people. Don’t click the link!
That’s a wrap! We hope you enjoyed it.
Bex, Gavin and the team at Ignition Lane
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