TechCrunch Mobility: A takeover that might not be hostile

welcome back TechCrunch Dynamics – Your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Want another reason to get it free in your inbox? The emailed version of this newsletter includes polls, including one this week that asks readers what they think is the best business model for autonomous vehicle technology. Have an opinion about this? Email me your feedback kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com With the subject line “AV Poll”.

OK, back to the show. There is another twist in the road for the leader company shine. And yes, there is some intrigue inside the boardroom.

First, let’s assume. You might think that Austin RussellLuminar’s billionaire founder and CEO was more or less ousted by the company’s board after an ethics investigation. But Russell did not go quietly into the night.

He returned to our radar a few weeks ago by launching a new company called Russell AI Labs. And now (cue the deep and foreboding “dum dum duuuuumm”): he’s made a bid to acquire Lumina.

Senior reporter Sean O’Kane story broke, Which you can read here. He has since learned a few more details beyond what was disclosed in the SEC filing.

That might seem like a potentially counterintuitive move — it was, after all, disclosed in a filing by Russell, and Luminar isn’t commenting on the proposal. But we’ve learned from a source that Luminar’s board members approached the founder about the idea last month. (The word we were told was they “encouraged” it.)

The implication here is that some of Luminar’s nine-member board really want him back, even though three of those board members on the audit committee conducted an ethics investigation against him just a few months ago, leading to his resignation.

The proposed takeover described in the filing is unclear, but it could involve Russell AI Labs acquiring a different automotive technology company and merging it with Luminar. As of this morning, we’ve heard that Russell has already been trained on a few options as part of the work he’s done with AI Labs, which he sees as a sort of incubator.

Deal!

There were two notable deals this week in the electric aviation sector.

is first up Beta Technologieswhich took advantage of easier SEC rules during the US government shutdown Price shares for its initial public offering. Shares are priced between $27 and $33, with hopes of raising as much as $825 million. If the company attracts investors at the top of that range, it will debut with a valuation of about $7.2 billion.

The SEC issued guidance earlier this month that allows companies in IPO limbo to automatically take effect after 20 days in certain areas, including share price, in their statements, even without SEC staff review. Several other companies, including NavanUnder these rules the IPO plan has gone ahead.

and have lilyWhich involved a very different kind of deal. D The electric aircraft startup may have shut down a year ago, but its technology is now on Archer Aviation.

Archer won a competitive bidding process — in which ambitious Air Mobility Group and Jobi Aviation also participated — and Purchased all 300 patents of Lilium. The price, €18 million ($21 million), is a staggering figure considering the more than $1 billion the defunct startup has raised in its lifetime.

The question is what does Archer plan to do with these patents? The organization is not clear, but there are some hints, which you can read in my story.

Other deals that caught my attention this week…

AirboundAn Indian drone startup founded in 2020, Raised $8.65 million Seed funding led by Lachie Groome, co-founder of Physical Intelligence. Hamba Ventures and Airbound’s existing investors, Lightspeed Venture Partners, as well as senior leaders from Tesla, SpaceX and Anduril joined.

DexoryA warehouse robotics startup based in London, $165 million raised In equity and debt. The $100 million Series C round was led by Eurazio with participation from LTS Growth, Endeavor Catalyst, DTCP, Atomico, Lakestar, Elaia, Latitude Ventures and Wave-X. The company also secured $65 million in debt financing from Bootstrap Europe.

FleetworksA logistics startup is developing an “always-on” AI dispatcher, Raised $17 million In equity and debt, including a $15 million Series A round led by Bill Trenchard of First Round Capital. Y Combinator, Saga Ventures, and LFX Venture Partners also participated in the FleetWorks Series A round.

Poni.A And WeRide there is A key has been approved From Chinese securities regulators that clear the way for autonomous vehicle technology companies to make secondary listings on Hong Kong’s stock exchange. Chinese companies are already publicly traded on the Nasdaq exchange in the United States.

Starship TechnologiesAutonomous sidewalk delivery startup, raised $50 million Plural led a Series C round. Karma.vcLatitude, Coefficient Capital, SmartCap, and Skaala also joined.

downloadA smart city software company based in Paris, Raised $20 million Series A funding led by Notation Capital. Other investors include Point Nine and Chalfen Ventures.

JeptoIndian Grocery Supply Company, raised $450 million In funding ahead of a public listing set, Bloomberg reports.

Notable reading and other tidbits

D National Transportation Safety Board The disaster that killed five people during a cruise to visit the wreck of the Titanic weighed on Oceangate. NTSB issued a report That Titan submersible does not meet safety standards of production.

stellar and Chinese autonomous vehicle companies Poni.A working together Build Robotoxy For use in Europe, albeit through a non-binding agreement. The plan is to integrate Panir’s self-driving software into Stellantis’ electric mid-size van platform.

While Stellantis is looking into autonomous vehicle technology, it’s turning to electrification. The automaker says it will Invest 13 billion dollars to further strengthen its US manufacturing over the next four years. (This plan was not well received by labor unions in Canada.) Five new vehicles will be developed and produced by 2029 as part of the investment at factories in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. Only one of these will be electrified, a significant difference from Stellantis’ strategy a few years ago.

Uber is offering a new Types of Gig Work: Digital tasks such as uploading photos to train AI models.

Waymo is Expanding to London. The company said it will offer a commercial robotaxi service in London in 2026, marking the Alphabet-owned company’s second international expansion after Tokyo.

As usual, Waymo had multiple pieces of news. The company is a locked one Strategic multi-year contracts with Doordash Using driverless vehicles to deliver products to customers in the Phoenix area. Waymo has experimented with delivery for a while. Is this a hint of what’s to come? I believe it.

One more thing…

Speaking of Waymo and delivery, it got me thinking about what the best business model is It’s been a minute since we had a poll, so I hope you’ll participate if you sign up for the newsletter. I will share the results next week.