London-based Vektor Partners announces €125M fund to invest in sustainable mobility startups

London-based Vektor Partners, an independent technology venture capital firm dedicated to backing mobility startups, announced on Friday (July 15, 2022) that it has launched a new €125M fund to accelerate towards a more connected, autonomous, shared, electric, and sustainable future.

According to the VC firm, this fund is well positioned to participate in the mobility revolution and its multi-trillion dollar potential at an early stage because of a value-added approach, industry knowledge, and a specialised regional strategy. The mobility sector keeps accelerating as reflected in the $400B worth of investments made into the sector over the past 10 years, of which $100B has been invested since 2020 alone.

Vektor Partners’ co-founder, Isabel Falkenberg, says, “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 €50M of commitments at the time of our initial close, which includes a sovereign wealth fund.”

Investing in the mobility revolution

Founded in 2020, Vektor Partners is a specialist venture capital investor in global mobility disruptors across Europe, the US and Israel. The firm invests in deeptech startups that use AI and software to develop scalable and category-defining SaaS/MaaS-based businesses, which are ready to improve the speed, safety, and environmental impact of moving people and commodities from point A to point B.

The Vektor Partners’ team is focused on linking emerging technologies with the automotive and transportation sectors. Startup founders profit from the firm’s specialised expertise, network, experience, and geographic reach, which has been created to offer value throughout a startup’s lifespan.

The company says, “From London, Palo Alto and Berlin, we are perfectly positioned to invest in a new generation of founders that will transform technology for the mobility sector in the 21st century.”

The firm’s creation reunites co-founders Sebastian Bihari and Chris Riley for a third time. Sebastian Bihari is an industry expert who previously led automotive technology investment banking at a global bank, and Chris Riley combines decades of creating value for growing businesses with experience as a startup CFO.

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 also includes senior advisors, including automotive industry veteran Bernd Gottschalk in Germany and technology specialist Roger Spitz in California.

Backing winners

As of now, Vektor Partners says it has backed a number of startups with “leading” technology and business concepts in Europe, the US, and Israel. 

In August 2021, when the California-based LiDAR firm AEye, Inc. went public, Vektor Partners produced its first US capital market exit. A $17.5M Series A fundraising round was also led by Vektor Partners and Nielsen Ventures for the NoTraffic platform, which uses computer vision, machine learning, and cloud integration to modernise traffic control and establish a foundation for IoT services.

Other recent investments include German startup Peregrine Technologies, in which Vektor Partners led the Seed financing round, and Israeli technology firm GuardKnox, where Vektor Partners led the firm’s recent Series B.

Co-founder, Sebastian Bihari, says, “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.”