Also, the micromobility startup that spun out of Rivian last year, has raised $150 million in a Series D round. The round values it above $1 billion. The company told Fortune the money will go towards its real ambition, which is not e-bikes but small autonomous vehicles.
Prysm Capital led the round, according to TechCrunch. The existing backers Eclipse, Greenoaks and MVP Ventures also took part. It takes the Palo Alto company’s total funding to $455 million in under two years. Fortune, which first reported the raise, said it pushed the valuation past $1 billion. That is a big number for a two-year-old whose only shipping product is a bike.
What Also sells today is an electric bike. What it is building, its founders say, is a platform. The company makes its own motors, batteries, computing and software. It says that stack can be dropped into anything smaller than a car, from pedal-assist delivery quads to fully autonomous vehicles.
Chief executive Chris Yu framed the bike as a starting point, not the business. “Its market is every vehicle smaller than a car,” he told Fortune. Using a 7,000-pound van or SUV to carry one passenger across town makes little sense on cost or congestion, he argued. The same goes for delivering a toothbrush or a burger.
