Israel's Next Gear Ventures venture capital fund, which invests in auto-tech startups, has completed a $30 million financing round. The money will be used for investments in early-stage Israeli companies in the smart mobility and smart cities sectors. Investors in the round include Mayer's Cars and Trucks, Ituran Location and Control, and international auto and transportation companies, such as Hertz and Volvo Group.
Next Gear cooperates closely with the Drive TLV incubator, which has promoted 40 startups in smart transportation and related fields to date. Volvo Group president and corporate investment head Anna Westerberg said, "The focus is on companies with disruptive innovation that leads to new solutions for improving the profits of our customers and provides new business opportunities for Volvo Group."
Next Gear began investing in portfolio companies when it closed its first financing round in early 2018. One of its companies, EXO Technologies, has already been acquired by Lear Corporation, and others of its portfolio companies have received an aggregate $150 million in follow-on investments in less than two years. Among the prominent companies in which Next Gear has invested are Arbe, Hailo, NoTraffic, MDGo, Autofleet, Foretellix, and Addionics.
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