A Tesla co-founder returns, TuSimple restructures again and Uber's stickiness strategy

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Jul 14, 2023 • 5 min read

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The CEO of the company was present at this annual shareholder meeting. Shared tidbits, thoughts and observations about the company. Some of the information was old, but there were some notable moments.

Return as a Board Member
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Roundup of coverage
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requires that some of Tesla's tweets be monitored. The result: the Twitter sitter, as some have called it, must stay.

You can also send a message directly to
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You can also use a variety of encrypted messaging apps.

Micromobbin'

Two reminders: Bikes aren't just for recreation and sports -- they can be a great way to get around. This is especially true of e-bikes. So don't listen to anyone who tells you that you are cheating by not riding a pushbike to work.

Remember that e-scooters and ebikes should be handled with care.

The news of an escooter catching on fire in a London house has been spreading. The scooter was purchased from Gumtree, a Craigslist type site. It was being charged inside when it caught fire. This is an e-scooter safety PSA!

On owning and storing your scooter. Here are a few things that you should know:

Purchase a scooter only from a company with a good reputation that uses batteries that meet global standards.

Charge batteries only when you are awake.

Batteries should not be disposed of in the household waste or recycling. Battery recycling services are available.

Avoid charging and storing e-scooters or e-bikes in areas that are close to escape routes, such as communal areas.

Now, let's move on to the latest news...

This subscription includes a GPS system integrated with LTE, a retrieval squad that will track your bike and call the police for you and an integrated GPS system. My question to the company is: Does the police -- who are very busy with the increased crime in big cities these days -- do anything at all to help people recover bikes?

About half of the residents of the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal said they want more parking spaces for micromobility and fewer parking spots for cars. Same.

New Zealand could be the first country in the world to support a campaign against
e-bike subsidies
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Since before Lyft took over, the iconic bike-sharing system has been a mainstay in NYC and many other cities.

For the Chinese market, it is expected to cost about $14,000. This is about the same size as a Fiat 500 and could be a good solution for urban traders.

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Create and maintain high-quality public space, such as plazas and open streets, in neighborhoods with limited resources.

Consider an acquisition. Bolt, the European super app for transportation, is currently in acquisition discussions with Tier. Tier was also reportedly in M&A discussions with Lime but these talks have ended, Sifted reported, citing a company source. Tier did not respond to my email. The company has only confirmed it raised a convertible bond from a majority of its investors.

Lawrence Leuschner told TechCrunch that Tier is well-financed to reach profitability in 2023.

The company announced a special edition ebike to commemorate its 30th anniversary of building ebikes. The frame is a twin-frame design with a dual drive unit that's lighter, smaller and more powerful. It costs $6,499. This all-mountain motorcycle has compact controls, a minimalistic display and one-finger brake power.

Deal of the Week

Why not highlight dozens of deals this week worth hundreds of million dollars instead of just one?

In April, investors raised $402 million for automotive startups, an increase of about 2% over the previous month. This flat result is worth celebrating because investor activity has fallen since the start of the year.

In January, startups in the automotive industry raised $1.16 Billion. In February, the figure fell to $690.5 millions and $394.11 million.

It doesn't necessarily mean that everything is rainbows and unicorns. While the chaos around the Silicon Valley Bank has subsided, mobility startups continue to compete for investors' attention and capital in a world where other buzzy topics like generative AI are taking over.

These are the other deals that caught my eye this week.

Bird's stock closed Thursday at $0.11. Bird's stock ended Thursday at $0.11. Bird's stock began trading Friday on a 1/25-adjusted split basis. On May 1, approximately 286.8 millions shares of Class A Common Stock and 34.5million shares of Class X Common Stock were outstanding. Bird will hold approximately 11.5 million shares of Class A and 1.4 million shares of Class X after the reverse stock split.

BGF, an investor in a U.K. company that manufactures folding bikes, took a minority share of the equity capital raised by.

In a Series A round of funding from a group that includes Porsche Automobil Holdings, Qualcomm Ventures and VentureTech Alliance.

InfraBridge, a private equity firm. According to one source, the remote driving startup was valued at $500 million before raising capital. ConGlobal's CEO, who is also a client of the startup and owned by InfraBridge, joined the board.

A startup that creates automotive middleware. The amount of investment was not disclosed by the company.

Faurecia will retain 33.3% of the shares, while Michelin will hold the remaining 32.3%.

Since its launch in 2016, the program has generated more than 1,250 submissions on paper.

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