On-demand car rental startup Kyte secures $200m in funding, BMW Group set to acquire luxury brand Alpina

Welcome to this episode of The Friday 5 with Steve Greenfield, Founder and CEO of Automotive companiesan automotive technology consulting firm that helps entrepreneurs raise capital and maximize the value of their business.

Automotive Ventures launched this year March Madness Contest on LinkedIn, where you can vote for the AutoTech startups you think are most likely to one day achieve a $1 billion exit.

Head over to the Automotive Ventures LinkedIn page to get your votes for your favorite early-stage AutoTech companies.

HIG Growth Partners & myKaarma

In last week’s biggest investment news, myKaarma announced a major investment from HIG Growth Partners.

Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

Founded in 2012, myKaarma is a rapidly growing provider of innovative end-to-end solutions for franchise automotive dealerships and has grown to over 1,500 dealerships in the United States and Canada.

With over $11 billion in payments processed, 230 million text messages transmitted and over 2.5 million videos recorded, customers have realized a 30% increase in repair spend using the latest solutions.

myKaarma is an advanced end-to-end platform with planning, communications, payment, pickup and delivery, MPI video, BDC solutions and insightful reporting.

Kyte

Next this week, Kyte, the on-demand rental car delivery startup that brings the rental car to your driveway, secured $200 million in credit funding from Goldman Sachs and private equity firm Ares. Management Corporation.

The funding will be used to help Kyte expand into new cities and accelerate the growth of its vehicle fleet.

The San Francisco-based company’s valuation was not disclosed. However, it was valued at $145 million after a $30 million funding round in October, according to data provider PitchBook.

BMW Group & Alpine Group

And finally this week, After nearly 60 years, BMW Group acquires luxury tuner brand Alpina Group. The deal is expected to close in 2025.

Financial details of this agreement were not disclosed.

Alpina’s roots date back to the 1960s, when the typewriter and textile maker began producing performance carburettors and crankshafts for BMW vehicles – which are reflected in the brand’s logo – and, eventually, full-fledged racing vehicles.

Over the decades, the partnership between automaker and tuner has grown, with Alpina now taking the chassis straight from BMW’s assembly line for modification.

Alpina’s focus has also shifted from racing to building luxury grand touring vehicles, such as the Alpina B8 Gran Coupé and Alpina XB7.

As Mercedes acquired the AMG custom tuner in 1999, it will be interesting to see what BMW does now that it owns the Alpina marque.

Companies to watch

Each week, we highlight interesting automotive technology companies to watch. If you read my Intel Monthly Industry Report, I feature a few companies each month, and we take the opportunity here on Friday the fifth to share some of these companies each week with you.

Today we have two companies to watch, both in the cybersecurity space: Secure Things and Shift5.

SecureThings

Our first company to watch this week is SecureThings.

SecureThings has developed end-to-end vehicle security solutions to provide software, device, and data protection across the connected vehicle ecosystem.

Through a 5-pronged approach of detection, response, recovery, identification and protection, they take a holistic approach to cybersecurity; from product development to deployment, including updates and patches.

With this defense-in-depth approach, security issues can be prevented and resolved when they arise.

SecureThings begins with a detailed risk analysis of use cases, attack surfaces, and potential attacks to mitigate impact and develop recovery plans.

SecureThings technology provides real-time information and intelligence for continuous monitoring to detect abnormal behavior and vulnerabilities to prevent/detect attacks and minimize their impact.

Check out SecureThings at www.SecureThings.ai.

Shift5

Our second company to watch this week is Shift5.

Shift5 defends planes, trains and tanks against cyberattacks. The company tries to defend the systems essential to the transport networks

Shift5 is a unique security solution designed to protect onboard serial data bus systems that power military and commercial aircraft, freight and passenger trains, and other heavy vehicles.

Shift5 captures and analyzes data from onboard subsystems in real time to detect and alert to cybersecurity anomalies so that crew and maintenance personnel can take action to respond to incidents.

Discover Shift5 on www.shift5.io.

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As I mentioned last week, at Automotive Ventures, we are actively fundraising for Automotive Ventures Dealer Fund – to help car dealerships navigate the next decade of unprecedented change, invest and financially participate in the AutoTech startups they help grow.

If you’re a car dealership and want to know more, let me know. I look forward to working with you to bring the new DealerFund Automotive Ventures to market.

It’s great to be back here at the NADA conference in Las Vegas after a year off. It’s great to come face to face with so many people in the industry after missing out on the experience last year.

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My new book titled The future of automotive retail is now available! In the book, I review the various themes that are most likely to impact the business of car dealerships over the next 5-10 years, and try to provide practical advice on how to prepare for the disruptive forces ahead.

For all of you tuning in to the Friday Five, I’d love to send you a copy of the book, just click here.

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People often ask me why I am affiliated with CBT News.

In addition to having an exceptional, extremely talented and hardworking team here at the studio, I greatly appreciate the valuable role that CBT News plays in the automotive industry.

Every day, I look forward to my morning email from CBT News to ensure that I receive the latest and most relevant industry information.

I encourage you to tune in to CBT News to make sure you get the automotive news that matters.

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So that’s your Friday the fifth weekly, a quick recap of the big deals in automotive technology over the past week.

If you’re a young automotive tech entrepreneur looking to raise money, or an entrepreneur trying to decide if and when to raise money or sell your business, I’d love to talk with you.

Thanks for tuning in to CBT News for this week’s Friday Five, and we’ll see you next week!

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