News Commentary | October 07, 2019
App‑based vehicle rental company Car2Go will cease operations in five North American cities, despite 2018 being the company's best financial year on record. The company cites the increasingly competitive mobility landscape as the decision catalyst, though by no means should this cause concern of a ... Not part of subscription
News Commentary | February 14, 2020
SoftBank's Vision Fund took the VC world by storm after coming into 2017 writing billion‑dollar checks. The wide range of investments also shook the industry, from $1 billion in WeWork to $2 billion in Manbang to $2 billion in Cruise. This led to aggressive plans for a second Vision Fund and even ... Not part of subscription
Technology | March 23, 2020
Hardware that adjusts voltage, power factor, and other characteristics of grid electricity in real time: in buildings, avoids equipment damage and reduces demand charges; in distribution and transmission networks, improves hosting capacity for renewables and reduces congestion. Not part of subscription
by Patricia Seoane da Silva
This decision comes shortly after Alphabet’s 2019 earnings report, which shows that losses from the Other Bets division that Makani was part of increased from around $3.4 billion in 2018 to just above $4.8 billion in 2019. Likely in response to these results, Google's parent company decided to abandon its efforts to develop Makani's solution, stating that commercialization will take longer than expected. Despite being ahead of competitors (e.g., Ampyx Power) in terms of rated capacity, Makani's airborne wind system is challenged by its complex design (i.e., DC configuration and use of a conductive tether). Clients should be aware of these difficulties and monitor Makani's ongoing collaboration with Shell to set long-term expectations.
For the original news article, click here .