Transportation Tech Deals: Luminar Founder's Return, Promising IPOs, and Bold Acquisitions
Mobility TechCrunch: An Acquisition That Might Not Be Hostile
Luminar Founder's Return and Acquisition Offer
The transportation and technology markets have recently witnessed remarkable developments, with the return of Luminar's lidar technology founder, billionaire Austin Russell. Russell had stepped down as CEO and Chairman in May 2025 following an internal investigation by the audit committee into the code of conduct and ethics. Various sources reported that the investigation addressed potential issues related to personal misconduct or financial matters (Source: TechCrunch, Wikipedia). Now, Russell returns to make an acquisition offer for the company through his new firm, Russell AI Labs. Although this offer might seem unwelcoming, informed sources within Luminar indicate that some board members encouraged Russell to take this step, raising questions about their desire for him to return to lead the company (Information date: 2025/10/17).
Russell AI Labs is considered a technology incubator, and the proposed offer might include its acquisition of another automotive technology company and its merger with Luminar. Russell has already begun exploring some available options as part of its due diligence efforts.
Notable Deals in the Electric Aviation Sector
In a related context, the electric aviation sector witnessed two notable deals this week. The first was for Beta Technologies, which managed to launch its initial public offering, benefiting from the facilitative rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Shares were priced between $27 and $33, aiming to raise $825 million, which could increase its market value to approximately $7.2 billion. Several other companies, including Navan, have utilized these facilitations to move forward with their IPO plans.
The second deal was for electric aircraft manufacturer Lilium, which ceased operations a year ago, but its technologies will continue through Archer Aviation. Archer won a fierce competition, in which Ambitious Air Mobility Group and Joby Aviation participated, acquiring all 300 of Lilium's patents for 18 million euros ($21 million). This amount is modest compared to the more than one billion dollars the company raised throughout its lifetime. The question now is what Archer plans to do with these patents, although it has not clearly disclosed its plans.
Other Notable Deals This Week
Other deals that caught attention this week include:
- Airbound, an Indian drone startup founded in 2020, raised $8.65 million in a seed funding round led by Physical Intelligence and Lachy Groom, with participation from Humba Ventures and existing investor Lightspeed Venture Partners, as well as senior officials from Tesla, SpaceX, and Anduril.
- Dexory, a London-based warehouse robotics startup, raised $165 million in equity and debt funding. The $100 million Series C funding round was led by Eurazeo, with participation from LTS Growth, Endeavor Catalyst, DTCP, Atomico, Lakestar, Elaia, Latitude Ventures, and Wave-X. The company also secured $65 million in debt financing from Bootstrap Europe.
- FleetWorks, a logistics startup developing an "always-on AI dispatcher" system, raised $17 million in equity and debt funding, including a $15 million Series A round led by First Round Capital, an affiliate of Bill Trenchard. Y Combinator, Saga Ventures, and LFX Venture Partners also participated in FleetWorks' Series A round.
- Pony.ai and WeRide received key approval from Chinese securities regulators, paving the way for these autonomous vehicle technology companies to seek a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The two Chinese companies are already listed in the U.S. on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
- Starship Technologies, the autonomous sidewalk robot delivery startup, raised $50 million in a Series C funding round led by Plural. Karma.vc, Latitude, Coefficient Capital, SmartCap, and Skaala also participated.
- Upciti, a Paris-based smart city software company, raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Notion Capital. Other investors included Point Nine and Chalfen Ventures.
- Zepto, an Indian grocery delivery company, raised $450 million in pre-IPO funding, Bloomberg reported.
Notable Readings and Additional Details
Notable readings and other details:
- The National Transportation Safety Board issued a report on the OceanGate submersible accident that killed five people during a Titanic wreckage viewing trip, concluding that the submersible did not meet manufacturing safety standards.
- Stellantis and Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai are working together to build robotic taxis for use in Europe, under a non-binding agreement. The plan aims to integrate Pony's autonomous driving software into an electric mid-size van platform from Stellantis.
- While Stellantis deepens its involvement in autonomous vehicle technology, it is scaling back its electrification plans. The company announced it would invest $13 billion to boost its U.S. manufacturing over the next four years. It will develop and produce five new vehicles through 2029 as part of investments in factories in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. Only one of these vehicles will be electric, a significant departure from Stellantis' strategy a few years ago.
- Uber is offering a new type of gig work: digital tasks such as uploading photos to help train AI models.
- Waymo Rolls into London. The company said it would launch commercial robotaxi service in London in 2026, marking the Alphabet-owned company's second international expansion after Tokyo.
- And as usual, there was more than one piece of news about Waymo. Waymo and DoorDash: Autonomous Delivery Partnership Launches in Phoenix. It has been some time since Waymo experimented with delivery. Is this a hint of what's to come? We think so.
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