Welcome back to the latest episode of The Future of Automotive on CBT News, where we put recent automotive and mobility news into the context of the broader themes impacting the industry.
I’m Steve Greenfield from Automotive Ventures, and I’m glad that you could join us.
This week we have a new investment to announce out of our new Mobility Fund.
Automotive Ventures is excited to share the first investment out of our Mobility Fund II: Safire.
SAFIRE stands for SAFe Impact Resistant Electrolyte, and is a drop-in advanced battery safety technology for Lithium-ion batteries that, under shearing force, solidifies the liquid electrolyte with no degradation of the battery’s efficiency once the electrolyte returns to liquid form, preventing explosion and fire in the event of impact.
In an automotive OEM context, beyond increasing vehicle safety, Safire’s technology also enables meaningful weight savings as a result of a reduction in EV battery shielding materials, which renders direct cost reductions from eliminated materials as well as other improvements such as increased range.
The company is commercializing a novel and defensible technology that was invented and subsequently exclusively licensed from the prestigious Oak Ridge National Lab.
Safire has a strong co-founding team that invented the technology and is uniquely qualified to bring the solution to market.
Safire also boasts an impressive bench of advisors to provide strategic guidance and make customer and partnership introductions to the company.
The company is focused on Lithium-ion battery safety: the liquid electrolyte within Lithium-ion batteries can be unstable, catch on fire, and explode upon impact.
The Lithium-ion battery market is and will continue to experience rapid growth over the next decade, driven in large part by the tremendous growth in battery electric vehicles (BEV) and energy storage technologies.
We’re thrilled to be part of Safire’s journey and are confident that our investment and contribution to the company will not only yield significant returns but also contribute to the company’s emergence as the leader in the broader mobility industry. We look forward to collaborating closely with the Safire team and playing a proactive role along their path to success.
So, with that, let’s transition to Our Companies to Watch.
Every week we highlight interesting companies in the automotive technology space to keep an eye on. If you read my weekly Intel Report, we showcase a company to watch, and take the opportunity here on this segment each week to share that company with you.
Today, our new company to watch is MasterTech.ai
Mastertech.ai assists with manufacturer procedures and diagnose common issues for any vehicle
MasterTech.ai provides vehicle service technicians with personalized assistance for manufacturer procedures.
Simply enter the VIN for any vehicle since 1985, and Mastertech.ai will provide full manufacturer procedures and specifications, with personalized assistance based on your level of experience.
MasterTech.ai provides instant answers for questions you have for the job.
Quickly look up torque specs, fluid capacity, fluid types, component locations, and more, so that the job can be done safely and efficiently.
Quickly identify known issues with specific vehicle models. Mastertech.ai will cross reference symptoms and concerns against all Technical Service Bulletins (or TSBs) for your specific vehicle and identify common known issues.
If you’d like to learn more about MasterTech.ai you can check them out at www.MasterTech.ai
So that’s it for this week’s Future of Automotive segment.
If you’re an AutoTech entrepreneur working on a solution that helps car dealerships, we want to hear from you. We are actively investing out of our DealerFund.
If you’re interested in joining our Investment Club to make direct investments into AutoTech and Mobility startups, please join. There is no obligation to start seeing our deal flow, and we continue to have attractive investment deals available to our members.
Don’t forget to check out my book, The Future of Automotive Retail, which is available on Amazon.com. And keep an eye out for my new book, “The Future of Mobility”, which is almost done, and will be out soon.
Thanks (as always) for your ongoing support and for tuning into CBT News for this week’s Future of Automotive segment. We’ll see you next week!