<\/p>\n
U.S.-China decoupling is expected to discourage cross-border investments between the two superpowers as investors shy away from sanctions and geopolitical risks. But in some areas, Chinese investors and American tech firms continue to find happy marriages.<\/p>\n
ClearMotion, a Boston-based company that aims to make car rides less bumpy and more fun, just raised $39 million led by Nio Capital, a mobility-focused venture capital fund established by William Li, the founder of Chinese electric vehicle upstart Nio.<\/p>\n
Getting backed by Nio Capital is a critical step in ClearMotion\u2019s China expansion, the car suspension tech company\u2019s CEO Christian Steinmann told .<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like seek and find together,\u201d said the executive when asked how he encountered the fund. \u201cNio Capital itself is very strong in supporting [global] companies in getting a footprint in China.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor next-era smart vehicles, ClearMotion will accelerate the transformation of auto from transportation tool to mobile living space,\u201d Ian Zhu, managing partner at NIO Capital, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
ClearMotion built its name by using software-controlled actuators to replace traditional shock absorbers for cars. Working with vehicle sensors, its software system can predict road surface conditions, which in turn informs its flagship product, an electrohydraulic unit, to counteract disturbances on the road.<\/p>\n
After working on external motion cancellation for over a decade, ClearMotion is now introducing in-car 4D motions that coordinate with the vehicle\u2019s infotainment system. The solution, the CEO said, creates an \u201cimmersive in-car entertainment experience by integrating with movies, games, and the metaverse\u201d \u2014 imagine being able to enjoy a 4D movie with coordinated motion from the car and high-quality, immersive sound, all while your vehicle is charging.<\/p>\n
\u201cCharging can suddenly become a cool experience,\u201d Steinmann remarked.<\/p>\n
China, the world\u2019s largest auto market, is \u201cway more accelerated\u201d in people\u2019s demand for in-cabin experiences, the CEO suggested. \u201cBut the wow factor isn\u2019t currently delivered by the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nio Capital\u2019s funding is meant to help ClearMotion \u201cindustrialize\u201d its products in China. The American company is setting up a plant to assemble its actuators around Shanghai, a major auto manufacturing hub in China. The plan is to start mass producing in China by the end of 2024, a timeline that\u2019s considered \u201cvery aggressive\u201d in the auto industry, the CEO admitted. The company has started hiring in China for engineering, software development, hardware, and customer relationship roles.<\/p>\n
Other investors from ClearMotion\u2019s latest funding round include BAI Capital, Franklin Templeton, NewView Capital, and Acadia Woods Partners. To date, the company has raised over $300 million from investors including J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Microsoft, and Qualcomm.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
U.S.-China decoupling is expected to discourage cross-border investments between the two superpowers as investors shy away from sanctions and geopolitical risks. But in some areas, Chinese investors and American tech firms continue to find happy marriages. ClearMotion, a Boston-based company that aims to make car rides less bumpy and more fun, just raised $39 million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1199980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1199979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrity-gossip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1199979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199979\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1199979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1199979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1199979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}