Stellantis honours 11 top startups, innovation partners in 2023 Venture Awards

Stellantis has recognised 11 top-performing technology startups with its second annual Stellantis Venture Awards. Honourees were selected based on the impact on the customer experience, the novelty of the technology and potential scale within Stellantis. The company said its Venture Awards demonstrate its attitude to customer-focused technology and its “Dare Forward 2030” ambition for global clean, safe and affordable mobility. Ned Curic, Stellantis chief engineering and technology officer, said the awards “recognise the fresh, creative perspectives of innovative startups that help us deliver useful, cutting-edge features.”

Stellantis works with startups as a partner and an investor. In the past two years, it has signed more than 110 partnership contracts with startups. The Stellantis Ventures capital fund was established with an initial investment of €300 million focusing on early and later-stage startup companies that are developing cutting-edge technologies that could be deployed within the automotive and mobility sector. To date, the Stellantis Ventures portfolio has 12 investments.

The 2023 Stellantis Venture Awards uses the three pillar categories of the Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan: Care, Tech and Value. The 2023 honourees in each pillar were as follows:

Care

Recicli, from Brazil, which specialises in developing sustainable technologies for all industries. Stellantis and Recicli worked together to recover rare materials from electric batteries, leveraging an innovative bio metallurgy process using microorganisms.

NetZero (France) specialises in high-permanence carbon removal from the atmosphere by turning agriculture residues into biochar, a very stable form of carbon.

The USA based Trails Offroad inspires customers to enjoy the capability of Jeep vehicles to explore off-roading with the trails offroad guides available in the Uconnect system.

Vehya, also from the United States, makes the electrification experience easy by supporting Stellantis customers in North America in choosing and installing the right Free2move home charging equipment.

Tech

Tiamat (France) developed an advanced sodium-ion battery cell chemistry, which offers a lower cost per kWh and an alternative to lithium-ion, free of lithium and cobalt, increasing sustainability and sovereignty.

Electra Vehicles, based in Italy and USA, offers AI-based software solutions to extend battery lifetime, range and safety for existing and next-generation chemistries, enhancing the overall performance.

Vayyar in Israel uses a highly advanced 4D imaging radar platform that detects movements and tracks multiple targets for in-cabin monitoring and improved safety. This enables seat belt reminder, anti-intrusion system, and child presence detection in a single sensor.

France’s Geoflex delivers global real-time positioning accuracy down to 4cm, enhancing advanced autonomous vehicle technology.

6K (United States) UniMelt plasma process enables advanced sustainable manufacturing to ensure clean, low-carbon emission material production.

Value

Shippeo (France) and Freight Verify (USA) enable customers and dealers to track the location of their vehicle’s transportation in real time.

In addition, Stellantis congratulated 22 other finalists: Bee Planet, Qinomic, Deepki, Meili Tech, Pontosense, Easyrain, Objeos, WooDoo, Storedot, Batemo, Flag-MS, Ideal Power, Marel Power, Auto-U, Crave Industry, Upply, Tractable, Knobs, Sheeva.ai, Mavi.io, Emergency Safety Solution, and Ucorp.