“Our goal is not to buy or become shareholders of startups, but to make them grow.” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has a clear idea of the way to go to create a sustainable mobility technology company. “They will help us achieve our goals – he explains on the occasion of the Stellantis Startup Awards – Working with other startups is a way for them to improve and for us to transform ourselves into an automotive tech company which is what we want to become very soon, beyond to be one of the objectives of the plan to 2030 “.
The group born from the merger between FCA and PSA Stellantis yesterday awarded seven technological startups “with extraordinary performances”. Since the creation of Stellantis in January 2021, the group has collaborated with hundreds of startups and has signed over 40 contracts. In March it announced the launch of its first venture capital fund, Stellantis Ventures, with an initial investment of € 300 million. Stellantis Ventures focuses on early and late stage startups developing cutting-edge and potentially usable technologies in the automotive and mobility industries. Recent investments include Archer, a leader in the development of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft; Factorial Energy, developer of a revolutionary technology for solid state batteries; Vulcan, a producer of lithium with zero net greenhouse gas emissions.
«If you think of PSA and FCA first, think of dinosaurs – comments Tavares – If you think of Stellantis, think of a startup. Stellantis is a startup, because as a group of people who share the same professional destiny we have decided to change. Of course, we are big, we have many assets, we make money, we can finance our development, we have many brands, but we are startups for two reasons: because we were born in January 2021 and because we decided to change. Working with other start-ups is good for them as they grow and for us as we become a mobility tech company. So we can surprise the market and our competitors ».