🎠The Bulletin #59: Self-Driving Car Startup to IPO, VCs Voting With Their Dollar, and Musk's SpaceX Makes a Breakthrough
In this week's bulletin - a Chinese autonomous vehicle startup to IPO in the U.S., millions of dollars poured into the election by VCs, and SpaceX catches a rocket booster with giant metal claws.
Hi! Welcome back to the VWV Bulletin.😁
For this semester, keep up with our content if you’re interested in:
Demystifying & breaking into VC
Finding opportunities in the start-up world
Keeping up with VC investment news at Brown & beyond (pro tip: this is essential to breaking in and finding opportunities)
Let’s dive right in.🤸
🚨Autonomous Vehicle Startup Looking to IPO
In a move that could shift the gears of the automotive world, Pony AI is revving up for an IPO in the U.S.🏎️
This past week, Pony AI, a Chinese autonomous vehicle startup, announced plans to file for an IPO in the U.S. This is one of the first planned IPOs of a Chinese company in the U.S. since Beijing’s ban on offshore capital raising. Zeekr, an EV manufacturer that went public in May, was the first Chinese listing to go public in the U.S. since 2021.
Pony AI was founded in Silicon Valley in 2016, and since has developed a suite of robotaxis, robotrucks, and personally owned vehicles (POVs). All of these vehicles have autonomous capabilities, with 250 robotaxis currently operating in China.🤖
It most recently raised in 2022, where it was valued at $8.5B, but the board recently slashed the minimum valuation for the IPO to $4B. Despite the technological advancements Pony AI has made, they are still operating at a loss. In the years 2022 and 2023, they lost over $270M due to their high R&D spend. Toyota currently owns 13.4% of the company, showing interest and support in the autonomous vehicle industry.💰
Autonomous vehicles have the potential to transform daily transportation practices in addition to international supply chains. However, we are still years away from this breakthrough as there are still concerns about the safety of these vehicles.❌ The unpredictability of pedestrians, complexity of intersections, and liability of accidents pose threats to the wide scale adoption of autonomous transportation. While Pony AI navigates the bumpy road to its IPO, the future of autonomous vehicles and user comfortability hangs in the balance.
🇺🇸VCs Talking Politics With Their Dollar
They say to put your money where your mouth is, but what if your mouth is where your money is?🤨
Although most VC firms take an apolitical stance, data from top VCs show that investors, and even firms as a whole, are putting millions toward the 2024 presidential election. Although publicly frowned upon, it makes sense – in addition to backing their favored political candidate, they can push for their commercial interests.🏬 The Federal Elections Commission released data on donations by investors in a subjective grouping of 10 VCs, seen below.
With a16z, Greylock Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Khosla Ventures all taking a mixed stance, other funds have a more clear-cut investment strategy. Founders Fund, for example, has put almost $3M towards republican nominations.🐘 In contrast, Kleiner Perkins, Y-Combinator, and others leaned completely democrat.🫏 Overall, Greylock Partners put the most capital towards a specific political party, with $23M going towards the democratic party.
Aside from individual investors, a16z was the only firm in the released dataset to make a direct contribution to the election. They have allocated $47M to groups working to elect pro-blockchain candidates.🌐 This strategy makes sense given that they recently launched a $4.5B fund in this area, but regardless, it is interesting to see an entire firm take a political stance.
When looking at where the specific dollars of VC investors are going during this election, the overwhelming answer is to super PACs. Super PACs are a vehicle that allows unlimited funds to be raised for candidates, subverting the FEC limit on donations. In addition to this vehicle, money was also donated to various joint fundraising committees which pool money for multiple candidates.
As VCs increasingly intertwine their finances with political agendas, it becomes clear that their investments are not only about backing preferred candidates but also about strategically positioning their firms for success until the next election term.⌛
🚀SpaceX Solidifies the Future of Recreational Flight
Space X achieved a significant milestone last week when they were able to catch the massive booster from its Starship rocket.🌟 The maneuver was almost something out of a sci-fi film – giant robotic arms clamped around the booster as it was falling out of the sky. The booster detached from the rocket 40 miles above the Earth and ultimately relaunched 3 of its engines to slow its descent and position itself relative to the launch tower. This task was accomplished on the first try – contrary to Elon Musk’s prediction of needing at least 3 flights to successfully catch the booster.
Despite being a visual spectacle, SpaceX catching its rocket boosters is a breakthrough for the future of space travel.🌙 Being able to reuse rocket boosters is crucial in achieving rapid space flight. Prep work for the following flight can be done immediately from the tower, not requiring any additional transportation. In addition, it lowers costs by driving efficiency. A SpaceX spokesperson noted, “In order for us to achieve rapid reusability we need a quicker turnaround. You can’t get much faster than returning the launch vehicle right back to the launch site.”
Another reason for catching the booster is that it removes the need for adding legs or some sort of stabilization system. In turn, this lessens the weight of the booster, requiring less fuel as it pushes through the Earth’s atmosphere.🌎 On the note of no legs, having the booster caught by a tower reduces the barrier that an uneven landing surface poses. Elon Musk has spoken publicly about pursuing recreational flights to Mars – and he hopes that the Starship rocket will be the vehicle of choice!
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That’s it for this week, feel free to email me at abigail_gonzalez@brown.edu with any inquiries!
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