Nissan-Renault Partnership Plans $1 Billion Venture Capital Fund...

Nissan-Renault Partnership Plans $1 Billion Venture Capital Fund

By
David Welch
and
John Lippert
January 10, 2018, 11:00 AM GMT+13
The world’s largest automotive alliance will invest as much as $1 billion to fund mobility startups over the next five years as it looks to make inroads with new technology at a time of rapid upheaval for the transportation sector.

Carmaking partners Renault SA, Nissan Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will invest as much as $200 million during the venture capital fund’s first year, the Alliance said in a statement Tuesday. The fund, called Alliance Ventures, will finance new developments in electrification, autonomy, connectivity and artificial intelligence.

“The way we’re organized now is not sufficient,” Carlos Ghosn, chairman of the Alliance, said in a Bloomberg Television interview at CES in Las Vegas, citing a need for the creativity of startups and outside partners. “I don’t think we can do it alone.”

Its first strategic investment will fund Ionic Materials Inc., a Woburn, Massachusetts-based company developing cobalt-free solid-state battery materials that can be used in electric vehicles. The Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi partnership announced in September plans to introduce 12 new purely electric vehicles by 2022 while extending range and slashing battery costs.

The fund’s formation follows similar moves by competitors, including General Motors Co.’s GM Ventures LLC, BMW Group’s i Ventures and Toyota Motor Corp.’s Toyota AI Ventures. Renault and Nissan will each fund 40 percent of Alliance Ventures -- which will be co-located in Silicon Valley, Paris, Beijing and Yokohama, Japan -- while Mitsubishi will contribute the remaining.