On Monday, Ibex Investors, the Denver-based multi-strategy venture capital firm that manages around $1.2 billion in client assets, announced the first and final close of its first-ever mobility venture capital fund, Ibex Mobility Revolution VC LP. The fund closed with $113 million in capital commitments from a roster of limited partners including founders, owners, and current and former executives of large mobility-related companies.
The fund is (already) investing in early-stage startups building the global transportation future. Ibex has identified three primary categories driving this future: Sharing/Connectivity, Electrification, and Autonomy. Within these categories, the fund focuses on startups providing technology and technology-enabled services, including manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, people mobility, and software throughout the vehicle life cycle.
The Fund has already made several investments across multiple geographies and areas of focus, notably aifleet and Visionary.ai. aifleet is a Houston, Texas-based next-generation trucking company that has focused on zero-carbon-neutral truck hauls as well as quality-of-work and life for its drivers. Visionary.ai is an Israeli embedded machine learning company that has built a software-based ISP (Image Signal Processor) that leverages AI to improve a wide range of imaging tasks such as low-light imaging, de-noising, and exposure control.
“If you look around your home, office, or home office, everything, including yourself, got there via the transportation network,” Ibex partner Jeff Peters said in a comment on the fund close. “It is the largest household expenditure outside of the house, and transportation logistics accounts for 10-15 percent of cost of goods sold. Transport is a massive market undergoing fundamental change from digitization, electrification, and automation.”
Ibex Investors began investing in the mobility landscape in 2015. The Mobility Revolution VC Fund completes Ibex’s full life-cycle mobility investment strategy –creating what it describes as a true “full-stack” investment platform for investing in mobility. While the fund targets pre-seed to Series B stage investments, Ibex’s other investment funds can support the Fund’s portfolio companies to and through IPO.
“We’ve been building this [Ibex] for more than a decade and continuously strive to provide exceptional service and unique investment opportunities to our 700+ investors. Mobility is included in that and the time to go deep is now. We are in the equivalent of the internet revolution’s first inning and couldn’t be more excited to drill down and invest in the companies of the autonomous future,” Ibex Founder and CEO Justin Borus said.
“Thinking differently, even revolutionarily, about venture capital is what we do best,” said Ibex President Brian Abrams. “Mobility is a revolutionary theme. Full life-cycle investing is a revolutionary structure. And our human-centered approach to venture is perhaps the most revolutionary of all.”
