- Own venture capital fund with up to € 500 million over ten years
- Widened scope of investment
- Greater independence
- Presence in start-up hub Silicon Valley
Munich/Mountain View. The BMW Group is expanding the
successful concept behind its venture capital unit and creating a
venture capital fund of up to 500 million euros
over ten years. This will allow BMW i Ventures to make
investments in a wider range of areas, such as
autonomous driving and digitalisation, and to secure continued access
to the technologies of the future. BMW i Ventures, which was founded
in New York in 2011 with an initial venture capital of 100 million
dollars, is relocating its headquarters to Silicon
Valley, the main hub for start-ups in the US. With a
high level of autonomy, the venture capital unit will be
able to make swift investment decisions and win successful and
promising start-ups worldwide as partners.
Investments in start-ups have proven extremely promising, both from a
strategic and an economic perspective, and create sustainable value
for the BMW Group. The BMW i Ventures unit, formed as part of BMW i,
underlines BMW i’s role as a spearhead of innovation within the BMW
Group and secures the company’s standing as a technology pioneer. With
the expansion of BMW i Ventures, the BMW Group is now taking the next
logical step in implementation of its Strategy Number ONE NEXT.
“These days, more and more innovations come from the start-up scene.
Venturing allows us to tap into this potential at an early stage. To
achieve this, we are now giving BMW i Ventures a much broader footing
and will expand our involvement in Europe and Asia, as well as at our
new location in Silicon Valley,” explained Peter
Schwarzenbauer, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG,
responsible for MINI, BMW Motorrad, Rolls-Royce and Aftersales. “The
atmosphere of radical openness and idea-driven exchange that
characterises the start-up scene is particularly fruitful for an
innovation leader like BMW,” he added.
The BMW Group’s venturing approach is based on exchange in both directions:
Outside-in: Minority holdings by BMW i Ventures in the best, most
innovative start-ups provide the BMW Group with external access to
innovations and secure the company’s role as a technology pioneer.
Inside-out: BMW i Ventures not only provides financial support for
start-ups, but also contributes internal non-monetary resources or
“smart capital”, such as technical expertise and access to the network
of an established global player.
“The mobility of the future and our industry is being defined by the
increasingly rapid pace of technological change. Anyone who wants to
succeed must shape this change and have access to the best ideas,”
according to Klaus Fröhlich, member of the Board of
Management of BMW AG, responsible for Development. “BMW i Ventures
keeps us close to trendsetters from all different fields and their
innovations. The benefit for our partners is in access to the
experience that comes from 100 years of car-building and managing
complex topics and processes. Together, we can speed up the pace of
change and development,” Fröhlich continued.
Going forward, BMW i Ventures will operate independently and globally
under the leadership of two managing partners – Ulrich Quay and Uwe
Higgen – and will report on its activities to a BMW Group Steering
Board, comprising three Board of Management members and the head of
Corporate Planning and Product Strategy. This will give BMW i Ventures
considerable autonomy and allow it to make investment decisions
quickly, as necessitated by the industry.
“We are dealing with a constantly growing range of topics that extend
far beyond automotive manufacturing. We have to be willing to explore
new directions and invest in promising innovation drivers,” said
Dr. Friedrich Eichiner, member of the Board of
Management of BMW AG, responsible for Finance.
BMW i Ventures’ previous focus on mobility services and
electro-mobility will be expanded to cover the BMW Group’s full
innovation spectrum in all areas of Strategy Number ONE NEXT,
even those outside of the traditional automotive value chain. Future
topics for exploration will focus on “Enabling Technology and Digital
Vehicle Technology”, “Mobility and Digital Services”, “Customer
Experience” and “Advanced Production Technology”.
BMW i Ventures was founded in New York City in 2011 under the BMW i
sub-brand, alongside mobility services, as part of the strategic
realignment of the BMW Group. Since its formation, BMW i Ventures has
completed more than 15 successful investments in various
mobility-related start-ups.
Since 2014, for example, BMW i Ventures has held a minority interest
in San Francisco-based technology start-up RideCell.
Since April of this year, as the systems partner of ReachNow, the BMW
Group’s premium car-sharing service in the United States, RideCell has
been responsible for the IT platform and all customer interfaces used
for reservations and billing.
Another example is Chargepoint, headquartered in
Campbell, California, which is another of BMW i Ventures’ portfolio
companies. Chargepoint, with its more than 31,000 charging points,
successfully cooperates with ChargeNow, the BMW Group service that
provides easy access to a steadily growing network of public charging
stations. In a joint project with BMW and another manufacturer,
Chargepoint has also installed 95 rapid charging stations on the East
and West coast of the US.
BMW i Ventures’ most recent investment, in Silicon Valley-based
company Carbon3D, already reflects the venture
capital unit’s expanded focus. It provides the BMW Group with the
opportunity to extend its existing competence in the field of additive
manufacturing technologies.
If you have any questions, please contact:
Christina Hepe, Business and Finance Communications
Telephone: +49 89 382-38770, email: christina.hepe@bmw.de
Glenn Schmidt, Head of Business and Finance Communications
Telephone: +49 89 382-24544, email: glenn.schmidt@bmwgroup.com
The BMW Group
With its three brands BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, the BMW Group is the
world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles
and also provides premium financial and mobility services. As a global
company, the BMW Group operates 31 production and assembly facilities
in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.
In 2015, the BMW Group sold approximately 2.247 million cars and
nearly 137,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for the
financial year 2015 was approximately € 9.22 billion on revenues
amounting to € 92.18 billion. As of 31 December 2015, the BMW Group
had a workforce of 122,244 employees.
The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term
thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established
ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain,
comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to
conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy.
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