Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and, apparently, a front-row seat to Elon Musk’s inter-company drama. We won’t belabor the SpaceX IPO - every media outlet, including ours, has already spilled enough digital ink to fill a swimming pool - but two data points matter for anyone tracking the "future of transportation" industry.
As of market close Friday, SpaceX has a market cap of $2.1 trillion, blasting past Musk’s other publicly traded company, Tesla. SpaceX is now the sixth most valuable U.S.-listed company, trailing only Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon. Tesla’s market cap, meanwhile, sits at $1.52 trillion. So much for sibling rivalry.
These two companies could soon become one. Last week, senior reporter Sean O’Kane spotted new language in SpaceX’s S-1 document that warns investors of future dilution. The additional sentence reads: "We may issue a significant amount of equity in connection with future transactions." That’s not a forecast of some small-scale deal; it likely means Tesla. On opening day, SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell added fuel to the speculative fire, telling CNBC a merger "might make Elon’s life a little easier." Because nothing says "ease" like merging two trillion-dollar companies.
Senior reporter Tim De Chant heard from a little bird familiar with GM that a "foreign supplier" is providing lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) cells for the 2027 Chevrolet Bolt - and that the automaker currently has no plans to make LFPs for its EVs. Previously, a Wall Street Journal report identified the supplier as Chinese battery manufacturer CATL, calling it a temporary stopgap. De Chant heard that GM is starting production of LFP at an Ultium plant in the coming weeks, but those cells are destined for energy-storage systems made by LG Energy Solution. The automaker hasn’t yet decided whether LFP has a future in an EV beyond the Bolt.
Meanwhile, EV maker Lucid Motors is going through executive-level disruption. Emad Dlala, a top executive, has left the company just months after being promoted to a leading role, TechCrunch has learned. Dlala’s exit is the first major executive departure since Lucid named Silvio Napoli as its new CEO in April. And we hear there may be more coming.
We can officially say goodbye to the Apple car - yes, the project that was shut down in 2024. But now there’s further proof Apple has moved on. After a tip and some document scouring, we found Waymo acquired a massive 5,500-acre proving ground in Arizona owned by Route 14 Investment Partners LLC, a Delaware shell company associated with Apple. Waymo paid $220 million for the property, according to the filing. The acquisition is the latest evidence that Waymo is trying to scale up.
CameraMatics, an Irish company using AI-powered video telematics to make fleets safer, raised €49 million from a consortium led by U.K. investment firm Blume Equity, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, and Goodbody Capital Partners. Clear Robotics, an Indian tech company developing autonomous ships, raised $1.75 million in a pre-Series A round led by Shipsfocus Ventures. Evotrex, a startup developing hybrid RV travel trailers, raised $30 million in a Series A from Chinese and Hong Kong-based firms. Volteum raised €2.5 million for its fleet management software. Zepto, the Indian quick-commerce delivery startup, unveiled plans for an IPO valued at about $1 billion. Zūm, a startup providing electric bus transportation for school-age children, is interviewing banks about a possible IPO.
Decart, an AI startup, unveiled an interactive world model called Oasis 3 that can generate photorealistic driving environments in real time, targeting autonomous vehicle companies that need to simulate rare driving scenarios. General Motors is pushing deep into batteries - not for EVs, but for commercial energy-storage systems for AI data centers and the grid, partnering with Peak Energy on a new sodium-ion chemistry. Rivian started deliveries of its R2 SUV. Uber, U.K. startup Wayve, and Waymo are headed toward a robotaxi showdown in London. Waymo launched a loyalty program called Waymo Premier for $29.99 per month and released details on a new computer model to compare its autonomous driving software against humans. Wing, the Alphabet-owned autonomous drone company, is pushing into seven more U.S. cities through its Walmart partnership.
Since the SpaceX IPO just wrapped, we’ve packed everything together in a single spot, including stories on who wins (Elon Musk) and who might not (lower-tier SPV investors). Senior reporter Sean O’Kane and AI editor Russell Brandom recorded a special episode of the Equity podcast Friday - give it a listen!