Celebrated designer and EV pioneer Fisker to help guide efforts to increase collaboration between promising new suppliers, SMEs and OEMs to lower manufacturing costs and enable smarter scaling
13 Aug 2018 | 9153 Views | By Autocar Professional Bureau
Global automotive designer and entrepreneur, Henrik Fisker, has joined forces with Berlin-based Motec Ventures in an advisory role. The entity is a collaboration between German automotive and mobility consulting firm, e&Co. AG and Venionaire Capital, one of Austria’s leading venture capital firms. In addition, Fisker Inc will engage in co-investment opportunities ...
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Global automotive designer and entrepreneur, Henrik Fisker, has joined forces with Berlin-based Motec Ventures in an advisory role. The entity is a collaboration between German automotive and mobility consulting firm, e&Co. AG and Venionaire Capital, one of Austria’s leading venture capital firms. In addition, Fisker Inc will engage in co-investment opportunities that may be synergistic with the OEM's upcoming vehicle line-up, as well as the proprietary Fisker Solid-State Battery program.
Earlier today, Autocar Professional revealed that Fisker is also exploring setting up technical centre in India and is also seeking government support for battery and EV plants.
With a robust combination of industry expertise and resources for investment, Motec says its aim is to discover and cultivate new, agile and innovative technology companies that will usher in a new wave of experiences inside and outside of a vehicle. From mass electrification across the globe, EV architecture to ride sharing applications and everything in between, the project is aimed at tapping into the hotbed of engineering and tech talent in Germany, Europe and abroad.
Fisker, who is known for having designed some of the most stunning vehicles in history, from the BMW Z8, the Aston Martin DB9/V8 Vantage, the Fisker Karma to the new Fisker EMotion luxury electric sedan – will support managing directors Berthold Baurek-Karlic and Geza Brugger through regular discourse on technical and entrepreneurial issues. The group’s focus will also centre on increasing collaboration between small and medium-sized enterprises, global OEMs and promising new suppliers to help drive down manufacturing costs and to enable smarter scaling. SMEs are the strong backbone of Europe’s manufacturing industries.
Commenting on Fisker joining the Board, Geza Brugger, co-managing director at Motec Ventures, said: “Henrik Fisker is, from my perspective, the Steve Jobs of the automotive world: a strong visionary and full-blooded entrepreneur with experience from both successful projects, as well as those that brought challenges and lessons learned. We are very much looking forward to working with Henrik and are pleased to have gained an experienced icon in the automotive and mobility industry."
Berthold Baurek-Karlic, co-managing director at Motec Ventures, added, "This concentrated automotive know-how, together with our venture capital expertise at Venionaire Capital, form a perfect foundation for further developing the future of mobility. And, above all, it finally will allow SMEs to participate in interesting business models from the start-up scene. I look forward to an exciting and challenging time together.”
Henrik Fisker, chairman and CEO of Fisker Inc, said: “I am extremely excited to join Motec’s Advisory Board and support the team in finding new and untapped brainpower and technological innovation across Germany, Europe and the globe that will help transform mobility even more by creating better experiences. There is a great deal of investors in Germany, the hotbed of automotive leadership, that would like to find promising new technology suppliers without having to cross the pond to places like California – and we see a wealth of these undiscovered entities in Europe alone. In addition, this collaboration allows Fisker Inc. to invest and tap into an impressive group of portfolio companies, providing access to the most compelling next-generation mobility technologies. We believe the result will be beneficial for all shareholders – as well as the manufacturers through lower costs and a smarter way to scale.”
e&Co. AG, a founding member of motec ventures, has supported well-known players from the automotive and mobility industry in strategy, organizational and operational change issues – and has been working with Henrik Fisker on a variety of projects to date.