BMW Expands Mobility Venture Capital Fund

BMW AG is widening the scope of its U.S.-based BMW i Ventures LLC fund, moving the venture capital company from New York City to Silicon Valley and hiking its investment capital fivefold to €500 million ($533 million).

The fund is part of BMW i, the sub-brand BMW Group set up more than five years ago to serve as an incubator for networked mobility services and new sustainable forms of transportation. The unit encompasses the company’s electric and hybrid vehicles, urban mobility consulting activities and services involving car-sharing, reservation-based parking, integrated transportation apps and EV charging stations locators.

The fund’s initial focus was electric propulsion and mobility services. Board member Peter Schwarzenbauer tells Handelsblatt that those areas now will be supplemented by a pursuit of advances in autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, cloud services and “digitalization.”

Schwarzenbauer indicates that moving the fund’s operations to the San Francisco Bay area will facilitate BMW's pursuit of its expanded interests. He figures half the startups in that region are pursuing products and services for advanced personal mobility.