Tom Whitehouse, contributing editor of Global Corporate Venturing and chairman of the London Environmental Investment Forum, hosted the breakout session on the future of energy, mobility and travel during the first day of the eighth annual GCV Symposium in London yesterday. 

The session featured three speakers from corporate venture capital units involved in the broader space of energy, mobility and travel: Akira Kirton, managing director of BP Ventures, UK-based oil and gas company BP’s strategic investment arm; Brian Schettler, managing director of HorizonX Ventures, the CVC subsidiary of aerospace manufacturer Boeing; and Karen Stafford, regional director for Northern and Eastern Europe for Intel Capital, the investment vehicle for chipmaker Intel.

Each of the three made brief remarks about the importance of seeking disruptive technologies that will change the future of energy and transportation, and introduced representatives of their portfolio companies who pitched to the audience.

First up was Felix Leuschner, the founder and CEO of Drover, which offers an all-inclusive subscription-based model of car-ownership. All additional costs related to choosing, purchasing and maintaining an automobile are assumed by the company while the customer pays a single base price.

Leuschner noted that Drover does not own substantial assets, but instead allows partners such as car dealerships to rent out their vehicles. The company’s mission involves getting users to rethink car ownership.

Next was Clive Jackson, CEO and founder of Victor, a booking service for private jets. Victor has reached $100m in turnover after seven years in the market, and has raised funding from BP Ventures and aviation services provider BBA Aviation. 

Victor has used the funding to set up an investment vehicle dubbed Alyssum Group. Its aim is to pursue acquisitions of companies that will help it to create an ecosystem around Victor’s services, allowing aviation industry companies to share data and business intelligence.

The company is currently looking for strategic partners in mobility, data and insurance, among other areas. 

Luca Verre, co-founder and CEO of Intel Capital portfolio company Prophesee also spoke. Prophesee has built a silicon model of the eye inspired by the structure of an actual human eye, and uses machine learning to mimic its functioning. 

The company’s technology was originally meant to restore the vision of people with retina problems. Its possible applications today are much broader, ranging from increasing productivity in industrial automation systems to making autonomous driving safe and even facilitating autonomous urban air travel over short distances.

Clare Jones, CCO of What3words, presented next. The company runs an online platform that helps pinpoint exact locations and addresses by dividing the entire globe into three-metre square areas, each of which is identified by a unique three-word code.

The universal addressing system is currently available in 26 different languages and consists of an algorithm turning GPS code into a three-word combinations. It is used in over 170 countries by 500 businesses and governments, in travel guides and even voice-controlled navigation systems in some recent Mercedes models.

What3words’ business model capitalises online location queries in map services and search engines. It has received ample corporate backing, having raised funding in rounds featuring Intel Capital, HorizonX Ventures, automotive manufacturer Daimler, logistics firm Aramex and railway operator DB Bahn.

The breakout session finished off with an extensive Q&A session for the representatives of the four emerging businesses, which revolved primarily around their current technical challenges and business models.

Kaloyan Andonov

Kaloyan Andonov is head of analytics at Global Corporate Venturing.