London-based Vektor Partners, the world’s first venture capital firm focused on backing startups transforming the mobility sector, has raised a €125 million fund.
Backs mobility companies
The fund will be used to invest in the revolution taking place in the global mobility industry, as transport around the world becomes increasingly more connected, autonomous, shared and electric.
To date, Vektor Partners has invested over $400 billion in mobility. It is the first specialist fund set up to tap into this area. It will invest across the value chain including in new types of transportation, self-driving cars, mobility as a service, software to facilitate shared transport and the transition to electric vehicles.
It has participated in leading financing rounds of category defining technology leaders in the sector including COMPREDICT.
Tal Kreisler, co-founder and CEO of NoTraffic, a portfolio company of VEKTOR PARTNERS, and recently featured among the Time 100 Most Influential Companies of the World, said: “Working with VEKTOR PARTNERS there was little need to explain how the sector works or what the future looks like – they get that right away. We are busy with revolutionizing traffic management using our high-tech enabled SaaS platform, that is being successfully deployed in the US. Their network and deep sector know-how help us accelerate our breakthrough in the industry.”
Sebastian Bihari, co-founder of VEKTOR PARTNERS said: “We are looking at tectonic shifts in the mobility landscape, where we will see new markets being created, and expect about half of the industry to be disrupted. Startups focused on AI, software and data will be at the heart of driving innovation and creating new businesses and products with real use cases and significant economic and environmental value.”
Chris Riley, co-founder of VEKTOR PARTNERS added: “The compounding effect of disruption through electrification, autonomous, connectivity and artificial intelligence results in a multi-decade super-cycle offering incredible opportunities to build new and large high-growth businesses. VEKTOR PARTNERS is focused on investing in these future technology leaders. There will come a time soon when we look back at the seminal years of the 2020s when the future mobility industry leaders were born, much like we look back today at the time when the likes of Amazon and Google were founded.”
Isabel Falkenberg, co-founder of VEKTOR PARTNERS said: “We are seeing strong interest in our specialist fund as our value-added sector approach resonates well with institutional investors who see the huge opportunity in the mobility sector. We secured EUR 50 million of commitments at the time of our initial close, which includes a sovereign wealth fund.”
Deploys value-added approach
Founded in 2020 by Chris Riley and Sebastian Bihari in London, Vektor Partners is one of the first specialist VC firms to invest solely in the new and large global mobility sector.
Additional partners are Isabel Falkenberg, an ESG expert who serves on the advisory board of the International Automobile Federation, and Valentin Menedetter, a former Palantir Technologies and Speedinvest senior executive with extensive SaaS and venture capital expertise. The team is joined by a growing bench of senior advisors, including automotive industry veteran Bernd Gottschalk in Germany and technology specialist Roger Spitz in California.
