Plug and Play is a seed and early-stage investor focused on great teams leading emerging growth companies.  Plug and Play runs 12 industry-specific accelerator programs twice a year, that acts as a platform for major corporations and high quality startups to connect and collaborate.  Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Plug and Play participates in Seed, Angel and Series A funding where they often co-invest with their strategic partners. Through years of experience and as part of their network, Plug and Play has put together a world-class network of serial entrepreneurs, strategic investors, and industry leaders who actively assist the firm with its successful and growing investment portfolio.  SEED ROUND. Plug and Play participates in seed round investing through a program called Startup Camp. Startup Camp is a 10-week program based in Silicon Valley for top-notch entrepreneurs to work intensively on building out their business model. Select startups will refine their business models and prototypes with help from a combination of structured workshops, speaker series and mentorship sessions, as well as active coaching from their investment team. At the culmination of Startup Camp, founders will have crystalized their business plans and pitched their company to the venture capital community at EXPO Demo Day.''  ANGEL ROUND Plug and Play makes angel round investments throughout the year, sourced from their monthly Plug and Play Angels (PAPA) sessions. They are partnered with local angel investors in Silicon Valley who participate in PAPA to find the most promising startups and best new technologies.  SERIES A. Series A typical Series A round is in the range of $2 million to $10 million, and is intended to provide operating capital for the company for six months to two years. This round capitalizes the company as it develops its products, performs initial marketing and branding, acquires talent, and conducts other early-stage business operations. It is in this stage that Plug and Play will co-invest with over 180 venture capital partners.  Plug and Play has helped grow market leaders such as PayPal, Danger, Google, DropBox, LendingClub, Zoosk, SoundHound, CreditSesame, Skytree, and has over 400 more early-stage startups in its portfolio.

Plug and Play

GreatPoint Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing between $250k and $20m into Seed, A, and B rounds. The firm was founded in San Francisco, California in 2015.

GreatPoint Ventures

BMW i Ventures invests in cutting-edge solutions focusing on BMW’s current and future business in the technology and customer and service space. BMW i Ventures invests in high-performance companies and helps them execute quickly by delivering agile precision—ensuring real-world impact on hardware, software, sustainability across manufacturing, transportation, and services.

BMW i Ventures

Forvia is an automotive technology company that offers vehicle interiors and emission control technology for sustainable mobility. It works hand in hand with automakers to develop cars that are cleaner, lighter, more comfortable, and easier to customize. Forvia was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Nanterre, France.

Forvia

DNS Capital is an investment office for the business enterprise of Gigi Pritzker, Michael Pucker, and their immediate family that provides long-term control and minority investments in companies. DNS Capital takes a long-term and flexible approach to invest by building relationships with business owners, management teams, and entrepreneurs to align interests, evolve businesses, and create lasting value with a sense of purpose and a sense of humor.

DNS Capital

Toyota Ventures is a San Francisco Bay Area-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups from around the world. Founded in July 2017, its mission is to discover what’s next for Toyota by helping startups bring disruptive technologies and business models to market quickly. With more than $500 million in assets under management, the firm’s funds include the Toyota Ventures Frontier Fund focused on artificial intelligence, cloud computing, autonomy, mobility, robotics, smart cities, digital health, financial technologies, materials, and energy; and the Toyota Ventures Climate Fund focused on innovative solutions for carbon neutrality.

Toyota Ventures

Fluxunit is the corporate venture capital arm of OSRAM. Building on OSRAM’s leadership in the lighting industry, we seek innovation that goes beyond the mere lighting context and has the potential to disrupt existing technologies and business models. It is their goal to build partnerships with startups and foster their development through their investments and support.

Fluxunit - Osram Ventures

Celesta Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in entrepreneurs and disruptive technology companies. Their management team and investment professionals leverage over 400 years of accumulated investment and operational experience and bring to their portfolio companies a deep and unmatched network of value-added strategic relationships.  Celesta Capital invests globally and has offices in California, Israel, India, and China

Celesta Capital

Mayfield is a global venture capital firm with a people-first philosophy and a 50+ year track record of inception and investing, partnering with founders to build iconic enterprise, consumer, and engineering biology companies. Since its founding, the firm has invested in more than 500 companies, resulting in 119 IPOs and more than 200 acquisitions, and currently has $2.5B under management.

Mayfield Fund

Bosch Ventures (Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH) is the corporate venture capital company of the Bosch Group, a leading global supplier of technology and services. Bosch Ventures invests worldwide in innovative start-up companies at all stages of their development. Its investment activities focus on technology companies working in areas of business of current and future relevance for Bosch, above all, automation and electrification, energy efficiency, enabling technologies, and healthcare systems. Bosch Ventures also invests in services and business models as well as new materials that are relevant to the above-mentioned areas of business. Bosch Ventures invests from EUR 500k for a seed funding to more than EUR 15m per company for usually 10% to 25% equity position. Bosch Ventures prefers to syndicate their investments with existing or new investors in the company and can take the lead as necessary.

Bosch Ventures

Continental AG is an automotive supplier. Continental develops intelligent technologies, products and services for transporting people and their goods.

Continental

Juniper Networks develops and sells products and services, which together provide its customers with network infrastructure. It aims to create innovative products and solutions that meet the growing demands of the connected world.

Juniper Networks

SW Mobility is an automotive electronic software company. It has grown into a global company 4th industrial revolution, such as autonomous driving and artificial intelligence, by continuously introducing innovation and new technologies.

SW Mobility

Pledge Ventures is a value-aligned venture fund, and in partnership with Founders Pledge will invest exclusively in members’ companies. Pledge Ventures operates as a rules-based fund, basing its investment decisions on specific criteria. These criteria include the requirement that the founders or leadership of the target company are members of Founders Pledge, the company is in the process of raising a minimum of $20 million in a series B or later funding round, and the participation of a ''top tier'' venture capital firm in the investment round.

Pledge Ventures

Banyan Ventures is a Seed Stage New York City-based Venture Capital Firm investing in AI-Native Infrastructure and AI-Native Application Startups.

Banyan Ventures

TASARU Mobility Investments is a Public Investment Fund (PIF)-owned corporation that supports a strong, diverse, and sustainable automobile and mobility ecosystem.

TASARU Mobility Investments

Recogni

Recogni develops AI-based inference processing solutions for Generative AI and intelligent autonomous platforms. Recogni delivers solutions for high compute, low power, and scalability.

<div>Recogni offers a visual perception platform for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and vehicles with Level 2 to Level 4 automation (i.e., Level 2 refers to vehicles that can control both the speed and the steering but require a vigilant safety driver; Level 4 refers to fully autonomous vehicles limited to specific locations and/or conditions). Recogni's AI-powered perception inference chip Scorpio reportedly enables object detection accuracy up to ~300m in real time under multiple road/environmental conditions. It can also process multiple streams of ultra-high resolution and very high frame rate cameras. The company also claims that the product has low latency and consumes less power.&nbsp;</div>

Autonomous and connected technologies shaping the future of the auto industry

Auto Tech

Juniper Networks invests in AI startup Recogni in $102 million funding round

<div>
 
 Recogni offers a visual perception platform for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and vehicles with Level 2 to Level 4 automation (i.e., Level 2 refers to vehicles that can control both the speed and the steering but require a vigilant safety driver; Level 4 refers to fully autonomous vehicles limited to specific locations and/or conditions). Recogni's AI-powered perception inference chip Scorpio reportedly enables object detection accuracy up to ~300m in real time under multiple road/environmental conditions. It can also process multiple streams of ultra-high resolution and very high frame rate cameras. The company also claims that the product has low latency and consumes less power.&nbsp;
 
 
 In 2023, Recogni launched the Phoenix ADAS/AD, a computing platform for autonomous driving and advanced driving assistance system applications for autonomous driving applications. The platform combines Scorpio AI processor and the Renesas R-Car V4H ASIL D support processor, for configurations up to 2,000 TOPS, reportedly the highest TOPS per watt capacity on the market. It also 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18256">
 offers a software development kit
 </a>
 (SDK) for its high-performance computer (to be made available in Q3 2023).
 
 
 The company started initial customer field tests in 2022 and has operations in the US and in Germany.&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26755">
 In February 2024,
 </a>
 Recogni raised USD 102 million in a Series C funding round co-led by Celesta Capital and GreatPoint Ventures, to develop its next-generation systems for AI inference solutions.
 
 
 
</div>

<div>
 
 Aeva develops next-generation sensing and perception systems including 4D LiDAR-on-chip for autonomous vehicles and robotics. Its LiDAR sensors dubbed &ldquo;Aeries II&rdquo; are equipped with unique frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) 4D technology for high sensing capabilities and use a continuous laser. It can sense objects 500 meters away over a field of view (FoV) of 120 x 30 degrees. Aries II is powered by the company&rsquo;s proprietary 4D Perception software. Aeries II is reportedly the world&rsquo;s first LiDAR-on-chip silicon photonics design.&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 The company launched Aeva Atlas, an automotive-grade 4D LiDAR sensor, 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25293">
 in January 2024.
 </a>
 It can sense objects 500 meters away over a field of FoV of 120 x 30 degrees. The company claims that Atlas is the first automotive-grade 4D LiDAR sensor for mass production in automotive applications. Atlas is powered by Aeva&rsquo;s proprietary Digital Signal Processing Software. The company claims the unit is 70% smaller and 4x more energy-efficient than the company&rsquo;s previous lidar solutions.
 
 
 
 
 Aeva sources product components from third-party vendors and assembles the final product in its assembly facility in San Francisco, California. However, since September 2021, the company has gradually shifted to a manufacturing model that solely relies on local and foreign third-party suppliers for both manufacturing and assembly. The company began shipping its LiDAR systems to strategic customers in mid-2022 and reported shipping 40+ units to customers by 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17245">
 December 2022
 </a>
 .
 
 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 The company has entered into product collaborations with partners including automotive component manufacturers ZF Group (September 2020), Denso (January 2021), and Fabrinet (November 2021) to develop LiDAR systems for vehicles and Nikon to develop sensors for robotic factory production lines (August 2021).&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 Avea has high-volume production deals with autonomous shuttle services provider May Mobility 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23631">
 (November 2023)
 </a>
 and an unnamed global automotive OEM 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25168">
 (January 2024).
 </a>
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 Aeva generated revenue of USD 4.3 million and reported a non-GAAP operating loss of USD 124.1 million in the year ended December 2023. The company has been listed on NYSE since March 2021, via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which valued the combined entity at USD 2.1 billion (November 2020).
 
 
 
 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23632">
 In November 2023,
 </a>
 the company raised USD 145 million via a combined private investment and preferred facility deal from existing long-term stockholders. The company intended to utilize the funds to enhance its standing with OEMs, and improve its ability to support various high-volume production programs, potentially increasing its prospects for securing additional contracts.
 
 
 
</div>

Aeva

Israel-based Innoviz Technologies develops LiDAR sensors and perception software specifically catering to autonomous vehicles. Its LiDAR product portfolio includes 1) “InnovizOne,” a solid-state LiDAR sensor specifically designed for autonomous vehicles with a detection range of up to 250 m and field of view (FoV) of 115 x 25 degrees; 2) “InnovizTwo,” a next-gen automotive-grade LiDAR sensor with a detection range of up to 300 m and FoV of 120 x 40 degrees; and 3) “Innoviz360,” a 360-degree LiDAR sensor with a detection range up to 300 m and pitched toward automotive and non-automotive applications.&nbsp;The company’s target market spans across the US, Europe, and Asia, and it had an order book worth USD 6.9 billion <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14444">as of September 2022. </a>As of February 2024, Innoviz Technologies had 18 of Innoviz’s products protected by US patents.&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26155">In January 2024, </a>Innoviz released a strategic realignment plan for its operations from Q1 2024, which included a reduction of its workforce by ~13% (about 60 employees) to lower expenses and enhance its financial longevity. This was to mainly consolidate expenditures by transitioning the InnovizOne program to series production and focusing on the InnovizTwo sensor and software suite.Key customers and partnershipsInnoviz Technologies has entered product collaborations with partners including Curium, a developer of automated calibration services for autonomous systems (August 2021); Ansys, a provider of simulation software (January 2022); Visionary.ai, a developer of software-based image signal processor technology (June 2022); Japan-based software company Kudan&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14117">(October 2022)</a> and Mobileye (<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/37124">December 2024</a>) to obtain technology to be integrated with its LiDAR solutions.The company secured 15 pre-production orders and four series production customers as of September 2023. Its customers include Twinner, Whale Dynamics, Syracuse, BMW, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12378">Volkswagen, </a>and Delphi Automotive—of which BMW and Volkswagen were among the series production customers.&nbsp;Innoviz Technologies generated revenue of USD 20.9 million and reported an operating loss of USD 132.6 million during the year ended December 2023. The company has been listed on the Nasdaq since April 2021 via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which valued the combined entity at USD 1.4 billion (December 2020).

Innoviz Technologies

<div>
 
 AEye develops artificial intelligence (AI)-powered LiDAR for various applications, including vehicle autonomy, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and robotic vision. The company&rsquo;s products include &ldquo;4SIGHT,&rdquo; a software-defined, solid-state LiDAR sensor for automotive applications. The company claims that 4SIGHT offers the industry&rsquo;s longest detection range with the ability to identify small obstacles at over 300m and a 128 degree horizontal field of view (FoV). 4SIGHT uses adaptive LiDAR sensors as opposed to traditional sensors that passively collect data. AEye&rsquo;s next gen product 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24047">
 &ldquo;4IGHT Flex,&rdquo;
 </a>
 is an ultra-compact, high-performance LiDAR for in-cabin autonomy and safety features. It comes with a 120 x 30-degree FoV, high resolution, and a detection range of up to 275 meters. The company 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14502">
 launched a new 4Sight product line
 </a>
 in November 2022, which it claims was built on a high-performance adaptive LiDAR platform. In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates?industryIds=70">
 March 2024
 </a>
 , AEye announced the launch of Apollo, the first product in the 4Sight Flex Lidar series. As of July 2023, AEye held 120 patents for its technology solutions.
 
 
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s business model also involves licensing software sensing platforms to automotive partners and outright sale of software-configured hardware products in partnership with system integrators in industrial markets.
 
 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 The company began has been producing and supplying its sensors since late 2021, in partnership with electronic solutions provider LITEON Technology Corporation 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/29284">
 (May 2024),
 </a>
 electronics manufacturer Sanmina Corporation (July 2021), German automotive parts manufacturer Continental (October 2020), simulation software provider Ansys (January 2020), and other system integrators. Its customers include Nvidia (July 2020), Continental (August 2021), and autonomous trucking company TuSimple (July 2021).
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 AEye generated revenue of USD 1.5 million and reported an operating loss of USD 87.8 million during the year ended December 2023. The company has been listed on Nasdaq since August 2021, via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which valued the combined entity at USD 1.52 billion (May 2021).
 
 
 
</div>

AEye

LeddarTech is a Canadian company offering environmental sensing and perception solutions for advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving solutions. The company’s main product offering “LeddarVision,” includes four scalable raw-data sensor fusion and perception platforms for Level 2/2+ ADAS applications (i.e., Level 2 refers to vehicles that can control both the speed and the steering, but the driver must maintain full vigilance). LeddarTech also offered LiDAR hardware components for LiDAR manufacturers, system integrators, and Tier 1–2 suppliers. However,&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14304">in November 2022,</a> the company announced plans to move away from its LiDAR hardware component business and focus on software development going forward. As of February 2024, LedderTech had 150+ patents (granted or applied).&nbsp;LeddarTech acquired VayaVision (sensor fusion and perception software company) in July 2020 and Phantom Intelligence (signal processing and LiDAR technology company) in September 2020 to complement its operations.&nbsp;LeddarTech became a publicly traded company via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25036">December 2023.</a> The company generated revenue of USD 7.4 million and an operating loss of USD 52.5 million in 2023.Key customers and partnershipsThe company has partnerships with technology companies such as&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27813">Renesas Electronics,</a> STMicroelectronics, Flex, dSPACE, Ningbo Sunny Optical, Black Sesame Technologies,&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27574">Arm Technologies,</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/29173">Immervision</a> for the joint development and delivery of LiDAR solutions.In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/37030">December 2024</a>, LeddarTech partnered with Texas Instruments (TI) to develop integrated solutions for ADAS and autonomous driving (AD) markets.

LeddarTech

<div>
 
 Seyond (formerly known as Innovusion) offers image-quality long-range LiDAR solutions for the automotive and other industries. Its product portfolio includes 1) &ldquo;Falcon,&rdquo; a LiDAR sensor specifically designed for the automotive industry, with a detection range of up to 500 meters and field of view (FoV) of 120 x 25 degrees; 2) &ldquo;OmniVidi,&rdquo; a perception service software platform, powered by a proprietary single-laser Forward SightNet and multi-laser fusion perception lightweight model; and 3) &ldquo;Robin,&rdquo; a short- to medium-range LiDAR sensor, with a detection range of up to 250 meters and FoV of 120 x 24 degrees.&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 The company, headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, also has operations in China and Germany. As of November 2023, the company had an annual production capacity exceeding 300,000 units at its facility in China, and had plans to commence mass production by December 2023. In November 2023, the company reported delivering 200,000 automotive-grade LiDAR to customers.
 
 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 
 
 Seyond primarily targets China and has entered several partnerships in the region. This includes a strategic partnership with Chinese EV maker NIO to supply LiDAR sensors for NIO&rsquo;s vehicles and a partnership with Chinese self-driving tech startup Mogo Auto (January 2022) to promote the adoption and commercial use of LiDAR for autonomous vehicles. The company reportedly delivered 56,000 LiDAR sensors to NIO in 2022.&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 Meanwhile, the company also has a partnership with Joynext, the smart vehicle arm of Chinese auto component manufacturer, Joyson Electronics, for mass production of LiDAR sensors. It also entered a product partnership with 3D spatial intelligence software solutions specialist Outsight 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24507">
 in November 2023
 </a>
 to combine Outsight's software technology with Seyond's products for enhanced 3D perception capabilities.
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In January 2022, Seyond raised USD 118 million in a Series C funding round led by Hermitage Capital at a pre-money valuation of USD 1.1 billion. The company intended to use the funds to enhance production capabilities, expand global reach, increase headcount, and for further research and development (R&amp;D).
 
 
 
</div>

Seyond

Companies developing LiDAR and other sensors for autonomous passenger vehicles and to improve driver safety

Providers of software such as collision avoidance alerts, blind spot detection, automatic braking, and other advanced driver assistance systems

Companies developing self-driving technology for autonomous passenger vehicles including cars, buses, and shuttles

Companies providing software solutions for managing devices, and integrating external and internal systems for vehicles using internet connectivity

Companies offering vehicle data capturing, analyzing, tracking, and mapping solutions

Companies providing in-vehicle infotainment products such as audio equipment and other electronic systems

Companies providing cybersecurity solutions for IoT-enabled vehicle devices

Connected vehicles and related services like infotainment and cybersecurity use IoT applications

Some companies use AI/ML tech for autonomous navigation

Autonomous vehicles facilitate efficient and greener transportation, contributing to creating smart cities

Automotive companies utilize GenAI solutions to enhance in-vehicle user experiences—mainly conversational AI technologies

Autonomous cars promote sustainable operations

<div>
 Recogni, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) processing provider for autonomous vehicles, has garnered USD 102 million in a Series C funding round. The funding round was co-led by Celesta Capital and GreatPoint Ventures, and saw participation from Mayfield, DNS Capital, BMW i Ventures, SW Mobility Fund, Pledge Ventures, and Tasaru Mobility Investments, which is owned by PIF. Additionally, HSBC Innovation Banking provided Recogni with debt financing. The recent funds bring the total raised by Recogni to more than USD 250 million.
 Recogni plans to use the raised funds for the development of its next-generation systems for AI inference solutions. The focus of these developments will be on enhancing performance and power efficiency.
</div>

Recogni

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