Remount RoundupIssue 12
The Parking Lots Got Priced
This week a sovereign wealth fund priced the parking lots at $2.1 billion. The capital seat, who actually holds title to the cars, is still open.
The company that parks and charges Waymo’s robotaxis in Phoenix and Miami is now worth $2.1 billion.
Last Friday this letter ended on the line that what is left in autonomy is capital and parking lots. I did not expect the market to agree within the week.
The company is Moove, and the news came Wednesday. A $250 million Series C at a $2.1 billion valuation, led by Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, with Toyota’s growth fund and Ion Pacific co-leading. Moove built its first business financing and running 42,000 ordinary ride-hail vehicles across 13 countries. The new money points somewhere else. It goes to autonomous fleet operations and to what Moove calls Nests, robot-heavy depots where driverless cars get charged, cleaned, fixed and sent back out. Parking lots, in other words. Extremely capable ones, priced like a tech company.
The rest of the week filled in around that deal. On Tuesday, Waymo dropped its waitlist in Dallas. Nearly 150,000 riders had come through the interest list since the city launched in February, and now anyone in Dallas can open the app and hail a driverless car. On Wednesday, London’s transport regulator issued private-hire licenses to Wayve’s Mustang Mach-Es, which clears supervised rides on Uber later this summer. A safety driver stays in the seat for now, so call it a permission slip rather than a launch. But London’s full paperwork stack is now assembled, and Uber is holding it.
Step back and the week reads as one story. Every part of the robotaxi business is getting a price or a permit. The driver software has owners. The demand apps have owners. The rulebooks are getting stamped city by city. And the depot work, the least glamorous piece of the whole machine, now carries a sovereign-wealth price tag. In Dallas that work belongs to Avis. In Phoenix and Miami it belongs to Moove. Real contracts, real prices.
Which leaves one seat at the table still open. Who holds title to the cars.
Here is the detail in the Moove story I keep coming back to. Their co-CEO told TechCrunch that the vision is to own hundreds of thousands of vehicles, and that the plan for buying Waymos is debt financing. Today Moove mostly operates cars that other people own. So the company that just got priced for doing the work is telling us where it wants to end up, and the answer is owning the machines. When the people closest to the business start borrowing to buy the asset, I take that as a strong signal about where the value sits.
Now look at who is already in the ownership seat. Mubadala. Toyota. BlackRock and Franklin Templeton joined the round. The ownership side of autonomy is being assembled right now, and so far the buyers are sovereign funds and institutions.
I started Remount because I think regular people belong in that seat too. The cars are going to earn either way. The open question is who collects. Own the bots that do the work. Rideshare, delivery, entertainment.
More below on what moved this week.
- Jonas
Autonomy roundup: the week’s evidence
The depot business gets a $2.1 billion price. Moove announced a $250 million Series C on Wednesday at a $2.1 billion valuation, led by Mubadala with Woven Capital (Toyota’s growth fund) and Ion Pacific co-leading; BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, MUFG and Uber also joined. Moove runs Waymo’s fleet operations in Phoenix and Miami, with London as its first international expansion, and the round funds autonomous fleet growth plus Nests, robotics-first depots built to keep autonomous fleets charged, serviced and in continuous operation. Co-CEO Ladi Delano told TechCrunch the long-term vision is owning hundreds of thousands of vehicles, with Waymo purchases financed by debt. (Mubadala, TechCrunch)
Waymo opens Dallas to everyone. On Tuesday Waymo removed its Dallas waitlist; anyone in the city can now download the app and ride. Nearly 150,000 riders came through the interest list since the February launch. Fully autonomous testing continues at Dallas Love Field terminals, and freeway testing is the stated next step before highway rides open to the public. The depot side of Dallas, the charging and maintenance work, is run by Avis. (Waymo, TechCrunch)
London’s paperwork is done, with a driver still in the seat. On Wednesday Transport for London issued private-hire vehicle licenses to Wayve’s Ford Mustang Mach-Es, completing the triple-lock the city requires: licensed operator (Uber), licensed driver onboard, licensed vehicle. Supervised trial rides through the Uber app begin later this summer, interest-list riders first. Worth being precise here. This is a permission milestone, not a driverless launch, and the driver stays until UK law and a further approval say otherwise. (Wayve, Zag Daily)
A question for you this week: if the companies doing the depot work are borrowing money to buy the cars, which would you rather own, the depot or the car? The modeler at remount.co runs one earning machine’s numbers start to finish. Reply anytime, I read every one.
You’re getting this because you signed up at remount.co. This is a thought experiment, not financial advice and not an offer of securities. Reply anytime or write hello@remount.co.