SoftBank’s 2.25 billion dollar investment into GM’s Cruise autonomous vehicles marks an important partnership between the two companies, with the potential to revolutionize transportation. SoftBank has taken a 20 percent stake(equity share) in Cruise, spotlighting their commitment to creating a strong future in the Self-Driving and Autonomous Vehicles(SAV) market.
The Smart City Index ranked 128 cities according to their readiness for self-driving cars and other technologies, putting San Francisco at the top of the list. With GM’s headquarters and chief testing center close by, making San Francisco the ideal platform for softbank to implement their autonomous vehicle technology and push forward with development.
Softbank was already an investor in some of the industry’s major players such as Uber and Didi Chuxing; this newfound collaboration with GM would complement Softbank’s investments and leverage from GM‘s 125 years of knowledge in the automotive market. Both companies are focused on the development of self-driving taxis for commercial use, pushing back traditional transportation into irrelevance.
In addition, it is expected that this will free up capital towards new projects such as manufacturing or engineering services which will promote further growth within autonomous vehicles industry. This investment also shows that there is confidence that they can reach profitability sooner than previously expected given Softbank’s strategic investments as disruptors within various industries over time.
GM’s Cruise gets $2.25B from SoftBank’s Vision Fund, $1.1B from GM
GM’s Cruise recently announced that it has secured a $2.25 billion investment from SoftBank’s Vision Fund, with an additional $1.1 billion coming from GM. This marks a major milestone for GM’s Cruise as it strives to accelerate its self-driving technology and development.
This investment will enable GM’s Cruise to reach its goal of commercializing its driverless vehicles. Let’s dive into the details of this investment and what it means for GM’s Cruise.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund invests $2.25B in GM’s Cruise
SoftBank’s Vision Fund has invested $2.25 billion in GM’s Cruise, a self-driving car technology company. The deal is the largest investment in an autonomous vehicle company to date, giving SoftBank a 19.6 percent stake in Cruise. This new capital injection will help Cruise accelerate the development of its self-driving cars and accelerate its mission to put safe, reliable and accessible autonomous vehicles on the road at scale.
Cruise has been working on self-driving technology since 2013 and is one of the leading players in autonomous vehicles today. This investment from SoftBank’s Vision Fund will give them even more resources to continue their progress towards safe, automated transportation for all.
Along with this financial partnership comes expertise from SoftBank’s engineers and executives that can be applied to Cruise’s operations. The Vision Fund will offer strategic insight into how best to expand within the autonomous vehicle industry, advise on efficient deployment of capital expenditure and provide customer acquisition strategies amongst many other benefits that come with a large capital infusion like this one.
GM’s $1.1B investment in Cruise
In May 2020, General Motors (GM) announced a $1.1 billion investment in its autonomous vehicle development startup, Cruise. The SoftBank Vision Fund provided the investment and included a commitment from GM to invest $750 million into self-driving taxis. The venture capital arm of SoftBank coordinated the deal with commitments from Honda Motor Co and Microsoft Corp for additional funds totaling $2 billion.
The investment positions Cruise as a leader in the development of autonomous vehicle technology, especially with early access to GM’s vehicles become available. For example, GM is considering launching its Cruise Origin autonomous taxi as early as July 2020. This also signals an important shift in GM’s strategy when developing self-driving vehicles, shooting up their valuation overnight and presenting itself as a rising competitor on this new market, with ambitious plans of dominating it within the next 7 years.
This move promises significant economic benefits for both GM and SoftBank, providing investors long term financial security while bringing them closer to their goals of providing automated transportation solutions for cities worldwide. Moreover, this sets businesses up for success, cementing SoftBank’s reputation for smart investments and boosting expectations about the potential of Cruise’s automation technology in creating improved ride experience powered by software intelligence mastery.
Impact of SoftBank’s Investment
On May 30th, GM’s Cruise announced that SoftBank’s Vision Fund had invested $2.25B and GM had invested an additional $1.1B into the company. This investment is expected to significantly impact GM’s Cruise business as it will help them expand their market share and increase their visibility.
In this article, we will discuss the impact of this investment by SoftBank and GM.
Increase in Cruise’s Valuation
One of the primary benefits of SoftBank’s investment in GM’s Cruise is the increase in its valuation. SoftBank is investing an additional $2.25 billion in GM’s Cruise, bringing the total to$7.25 billion and doubling its initial $3.35 billion investment from 2018. This sizeable investment will enable Cruise to advance its ambitious plans to launch a fully-autonomous taxi fleet by 2019.
This increase in total investments will also bring a notable bump for Cruise’s valuation, which has been stuck at $19 billion since 2018 even as rival autonomous vehicle companies have achieved higher valuations over the same period. SoftBank’s current infusion of capital positions GM’s Cruise as one of the most valuable private companies working on self-driving technology. It creates an opportunity for potential investors to benefit from this surge in valuation.
From a financial standpoint, SoftBank’s involvement ensures that Cruise can focus on strategic growth opportunities instead of worrying about raising capital for short-term operations and projects. Overall, this investment provides a much-needed boost for GM’s Cruise to move overseas and ramp up its autonomous vehicle development efforts—and its valuation too!
Expansion of Cruise’s Business
SoftBank’s nearly $2.3 billion investment in GM’s autonomous vehicle unit, Cruise, is expected to bring substantial growth opportunities and financial capital to the company. This infusion of funds will help accelerate Cruise’s plans for commercial deployment and provide the necessary resources to expand its business into subscription services and logistics.
Specifically, it is believed that SoftBank’s involvement will translate into more development opportunities for Cruise, enabling it to build upon its current suite of self-driving technologies. This could impact many aspects of Cruise’s core product offering, including motion planning software, distinct sensor suites, the way vehicles connect on roads and respond in dynamic scenarios. Additionally, this investment will likely bring various technical talent from SoftBank onboard to bolster their expertise and help push innovations forward faster.
At an operational level, this infusion of financial capital should enable Cruise to expand its tests across new cities and geographies worldwide and support product advancements at a larger scale – helping it establish itself as a key player in the autonomous vehicle market when commercialization begins. Moreover, from a business management perspective SoftBank’s vast resources could facilitate entry into new markets such as AV insurance or passenger experience subscriptions – allowing them to further capitalize on their brand position as an alternative mobility solution provider within the automotive industry.
Increase in GM’s Share Price
SoftBank’s investment in GM Cruise, announced on May 30th, 2019, began a positive trend for GM stockholders. By June 3rd, the stock had jumped 4.8%, indicating investor support for the move. Over the next nine months, following news of SoftBank’s investment and other events such as a partnership with Honda, GM’s stock rose from around $35.25 to well over $50 per share. This roughly translates to an increase of nearly 48% within one year since SoftBank’s investment was announced.
The capital infusion has also enabled GM to aggressively pursue their self-driving efforts by accelerating their development and rollout timelines. Installing leading Silicon Valley venture capitalist Yuri Milner on their Board of Directors further reinforces this. With his help and that from Vision Fund investors SoftBank, Honda and T Rowe Price, GM looks set to revolutionize the industry with its advancements in mobility technology and autonomous vehicles.
Conclusion
SoftBank’s investment of $2.25 billion in Cruise is an important boost for the future of autonomous vehicles, and the injection of funds will help GM focus more on innovation and development.
With SoftBank’s backing, GM’s Cruise program has positioned itself as one of the major players in the race to deploy fully autonomous vehicles on public roads. Additionally, SoftBank brings more than just money to the table – it also brings expertise in AI/machine learning and an understanding of how evolving consumer preferences can be best addressed.
By leveraging these techniques, Combined with research and development, GM has a better chance at moving forward quickly and effectively into an autonomous future.
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