- Germany-based electric motor manufacturer and startup, DeepDrive, has announced a successful investment of €30 million, in its Series B funding round.
- This second round of funding brings the total raised by the firm to just under €50 million, helping it to put its high-tech motors into mass production for EVs.
- The latest round of investment was led by decarbonisation-focused venture capital firm, Leitmotif, alongside BMW i Ventures, co-pace, UVC Partners, and Bayern Kapital.
Fresh investment to mass produce next gen EV motors
While DeepDrive hasn’t specifically mentioned which OEMs have expressed interest in adopting their motor solutions, it did note that the new funding would help development projects which involve “8 of the world’s top 10 automakers”. Considering that BMW’s venture capital branch is one of the key investors in the project, and BMW co-tested a DeepDrive electric motor earlier on in the year, future BMW EVs could be one of these eight automakers to benefit from the new motors. The funding will also go towards building an in-house production facility, for its dual rotor motors.
DeepDrive say its motor solutions will boost efficiency by 20%, compared to existing solutions on the market, whilst also being cheaper to produce. This could allow for mass market EVs, without the need for solid state batteries, with ranges of more than 800 km (500 miles). At scale, the firm says this could give automakers cost savings north of €1 billion, helping more automakers to achieve price parity between ICE cars and EVs in the future. That efficiency should also see benefits when it comes to the lifetime carbon footprint of EVs, too.
Felix Poernbacher, Co-founder and Co-CEO of DeepDrive, commented:
“DeepDrive’s mission is to revolutionise the automotive industry by providing groundbreaking solutions that help automakers meet their efficiency and cost goals. We believe in a collaborative approach, working hand-in-hand with established players to get our motors on the streets. This funding round marks a significant milestone, and with the support of Leitmotif and our existing investors, we are poised to fulfil the large demand from global automakers.”
Jens Wiese, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Leitmotif, added:
“Investing into innovators that have the potential to become category-defining companies, transforming their respective industries is at the heart of Leitmotif’s strategy. Our investment in DeepDrive builds upon this mission. Its innovative technology has already attracted interest from some of the world’s largest automakers and is set to help them build the most efficient EVs through its collaborative business model.”
