🏙️Urban Tech Digest - 11.2.2023
A bi-weekly briefing on the intersection between cities and new technologies
📰 Notable News
NYC Council is considering new bills that would require delivery apps like Uber Eats to provide couriers with access to ebikes, mandate workers to take an ebike safety course, and require ebike/escooter businesses to obtain a license for operating in the city
bp pulse, bp’s EV charging business, made a $100M purchase order of Tesla’s ultra fast chargers to deploy into its independent EV charging network; bp pulse currently operates over 27K charge points today
Cruise’s driverless operations was suspended, after having its self-driving permit revoked by California regulators
Councilmember Hugo Soto=Martinez told Waymo and Cruise that their robotaxis do not belong in the city of Los Angeles, citing the threat that they pose to peestrians, cyclists, and motorists
SkillFusion, a customer success platform for EV service equipment operations and maintenance providers, officially launched to build up the nationwide network of certified workers to service the growing EV charger network
You can now hail a Waymo robotaxi on the Uber app in Phoenix
💰 Funding and M&A
Pony.AI, a Fremont, CA-based robotaxi company, raised a $100M round from Neom, Saudi Arabia’s futuristic city and development project, as part of a joint venture to develop, manufacture, and deploy its vehicles in the city and surrounding regions
Woltair, a Prague, Czech Republic-based developer of contractor management solutions for home electrification, raised a €20.5M round led by Westly Group and Fifth Wall
ABL, a Nuremberg, Germany-based EV charging solutions provider, was acquired by Wallbox for €15M
Greenlite, an Austin-based software company streamlining the construction permitting processing, raised a $8M seed round led by Trust Ventures
Laka, a London-based collective-driven bike insurance provider, raised a €7.6M debt and equity round led by Shift4Good
Aerodome, Seattle-based first responder drone company, raised $6.5M in seed funding led by A16Z and 2048.vc
Prepared, a NYC-based company developing digital public safety infrastructure solutions, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from A16Z
Faction, a SF-based company commercializing supervised autonomous vehicles through teleoperations, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from TDK Ventures