Goodyear Ventures, the venture arm of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., has made an undisclosed investment in a Seattle company that is developing information technology to help people buy and sell electric cars.
Recurrent Motors Inc. said it has raised $4.5 million from automotive and technology venture firms, including Goodyear Ventures, to speed up the company's ability to meet automotive industry demand for its comprehensive battery reports.
Recurrent uses machine learning and more than 1 million data points collected from 2,500-plus electric vehicle (EV) owners to generate reports that offer "excellent," "good" and "fair" ratings of a used vehicle's range to its original range.
For instance, an "excellent" rating means that the vehicle's range today is more than 90% of its original range at full charge, Recurrent said in a statement.
The funding positions Recurrent for rapid growth and will be used to scale and enhance the features of its product for corporate clients and EV) owners, the company said.
Partnerships with new investors, including not only Goodyear Ventures but Automotive Ventures, Hearst Ventures, Avesta Ventures, MAP Investco, Circumference Group, Enertech Capital and E8 Angels are expected to help the Seattle company scale its product for all types of EV buyers, the company said.
Recurrent has been working for almost two years to develop a product "that is capable of revolutionizing the secondary EV market," said Scott Case, CEO and co-founder, in his company's statement.
"Whether you are a wholesaler, dealership or individual car buyer, we are ready to add transparency and confidence to your purchase," Case said.
Through its comprehensive battery reports for EV owners, buyers and sellers, the company aims to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles.
Shares of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (Nasdaq: GT) were down about a half percentage point to $13.27 in late afternoon trading on Thursday.
