Morning Brew - ☕ Formula won

Car tech took the wheel for VCs in February
March 22, 2023

Emerging Tech Brew

Cytonics

It’s Wednesday. With the release of Google’s Bard chatbot, we’ve got large language models on our minds. Can they help us survive the onslaught of group chat texts we’ll get when Succession returns this weekend?

Until then, we invite you to take our latest reader survey—you’re brilliant, you know that, right? We sure do. That’s why we need your help to make our coverage better. If you can spare a couple of minutes to tell us how we’re doing, you’ll be in the running for a $250 AmEx gift card. Take our survey here.

In today’s edition:

Hayden Field, Maeve Allsup

AUTOS

We can drive it home

the front grill of a a black Ram 1500 REV drives on a road in a green wooded landscape Ram Trucks

Battery tech may be one of the hottest automotive investments this winter—at least according to VC dollars.

Venture capitalists invested more than $647 million in automotive industry startups in February, and more than 70% of that funding went to battery tech companies, Automotive News reported.

Fully charged

The biggest bet in that sector was Our Next Energy, a Michigan-based energy storage company that netted a $300 million Series B at a post-money valuation of $1.2 billion.

The funding round came alongside an additional $220 million in grants from the State of Michigan. One of the company’s goals is to produce enough LFP batteries to power 200,000 electric vehicles by 2027, the FT reported.

Why it matters: LFP batteries are widely seen as a smart way to power EVs since they’re less expensive to manufacture than some methods and provide faster vehicle charging.

But the tech is a relatively new manufacturing bet for the US. In 2022, LFPs represented about half the battery capacity of EVs sold in China, compared to only 9% for the US—and that’s up from zero for the US in 2021, according to research from Adamas Intelligence cited by the FT. When Our Next Energy completes its factory, chances are that number will grow even larger.—HF

        

TOGETHER WITH CYTONICS

This biotech has Johnson & Johnson®’s attention

Cytonics

You know Johnson & Johnson® as the company behind Tylenol®, Listerine®, and even everyone’s trusty friend, BAND-AID®. Now they’re funding one more solution that could treat millions—and you can invest alongside them.

Cytonics aims to have the first and only treatment that can reverse osteoarthritis (OA). Over 600m people worldwide suffer from this joint-degrading disease, and there is currently no treatment that targets its root cause.

Research shows Cytonics’ novel biologic treatment can slow the degradation of cartilage from OA and even reverse the damage. Now they’re getting ready for phase 1 human clinical trials, a key step toward FDA approval. That gives them the potential to disrupt the $240b OA market.

With possibility like this, it’s no wonder Johnson & Johnson® is a significant shareholder. Join them and invest in Cytonics before their funding round closes on March 30.

RETAIL

Carbon footprints

A collage of inspiration and plans for the M0.0NSHOT shoe. Allbirds

In the wake of a disappointing end to its first 18 months as a publicly traded company, the maker of San Francisco’s favorite footwear, Allbirds, is launching a new product. And it’s got a tagline the company is hoping will resonate with shoppers, who it says are young and environmentally conscious: “The world’s first net zero carbon shoe.”

While carbon reduction is undeniably a powerful vision for fashion, it’s a claim that has commonly included carbon-credit purchases and the G-word (greenwashing). But Allbirds said its reimagining business as usual in the apparel industry, and has achieved a zero-carbon footprint with its new shoe, the “M0.0NSHOT.”

According to Allbirds, M0.0NSHOT was achieved without carbon offsets and instead uses carbon-negative materials, including those Allbirds invented itself. So while packaging and shipping the shoe will emit carbon, the product’s net carbon output balances to zero.

It’s a move that CEO Tim Brown said was made possible by the company’s relatively small size and the flexibility of its supply chain, and that Allbirds hopes will put it at the forefront of a fundamental change in footwear design and production.

Keep reading here.MA

        

TOGETHER WITH REMOTEBASE

Remotebase

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BITS AND BYTES

At a Boring Company debut in Las Vegas, a white Tesla sedan drives into a futuristic looking tunnel lit up blue on the inside. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Stat: $25 million. That’s the amount that Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes allegedly owes to company creditors, according to a lawsuit recently made public and reported by NBC News.

Quote: “NOT acceptable.”—A Las Vegas city engineer’s response to Elon Musk’s The Boring Company’s proposal to expand the company’s Loop tunnel-based transportation system in the city, which would, in certain segments, limit the height of new development, prompting this response, TechCrunch reported

Read: The LA Times editorial board wrote that new fossil-fuel projects are a form of climate denial.

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*This is sponsored advertising content.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

  • Amazon is expected to lay off another 9,000 employees, following prior layoffs.
  • Honda Civic models released in 2022 and 2023 are being reviewed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration following driver complaints of steering problems.
  • Meta is being sued by content moderators in Kenya.
  • Apple may soon release its latest iOS, per The Verge.

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✢ A Note From Cytonics

This is a paid advertisement for Cytonics’ Regulation CF Offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.cytonics.com.

         

Written by Hayden Field and Maeve Allsup

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