ANALYSIS-Corporate investors pile into electric vehicle startups

By Paul Lienert

DETROIT, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Corporate investors from outsidethe auto industry are placing increasing bets on electricvehicles, vying with automakers and suppliers to bankrollstartup companies working on everything from advanced batteriesto charging devices and all-new EVs.

Some 250 startups involved in some aspect of electrificationhave attracted more than $20 billion in venture capital, notablyfrom a broad array of corporations across multiple industries,according to a Reuters analysis of publicly available data.

"Electrification will set off a number of economic changesin the traditional value chain in and around vehicles," saidReilly Brennan, managing director of San Francisco-based TrucksVenture Capital.

Because of those changes, in addition to funding EVdevelopment, investors see revenue opportunities in relatedmarkets, such as consumer products and home energy, Brennansaid.

Such opportunities are underpinned by steady improvements inlithium-ion batteries' energy, prompting forecasts for a surgein fleet electrification amid global efforts to fight fuelconsumption and emissions from traditional internal combustionengines.

Big oil companies such as BP PLC and Royal DutchShell PLC see EV-related investments partly as a hedgeagainst dwindling demand for fossil fuels for privately ownedvehicles, according to venture investor Evangelos Simoudis,managing director of Synapse Partners.

But they also see an opportunity to provide electric vehiclecharging at fuel stations that now dispense gasoline and diesel.

Simoudis, who advises corporate executives on new mobilityinnovation strategy, said aerospace companies have a vestedinterest, too, in startups working on advanced battery systems:"Boeing and Airbus are both working on electric planes."

Large telecommunication companies such as VerizonCommunications Inc will play a role in connected electricvehicles, while semiconductor makers such as Intel Corpand Qualcomm Inc see their computer chips being used inan increasing number of applications in future electric andself-driving vehicles, Simoudis added.

Far and away the most active corporate investor inelectrification so far is Intel, which has backed batterystartups Prieto, Qnovo and Enovix and charging startupsWiTricity and Chargifi.

Global automakers are heavily invested in battery startups.The field includes General Motors Co, BMW AG,Daimler AG, Renault SA, Nissan Motor Co, Hyundai Motror Co and SAIC Motor Corp.

Outside the auto industry, corporate investors in batterystartups include technology companies Samsung Electronicsand Motorola Solutions Inc and energycompany Schlumberger NV.

Dozens of the startups focused on EV charging andinfrastructure have been funded by many of the same corporateinvestors, including Chevron Corp and ABB AG.

The greatest interest from investors, however, is in EVstartups. There are more than 50 globally, including severalhigh-profile and well-funded Tesla wannabes based in China.

Corporate investment in China's startups has come from bigChinese companies such as automaker FAW Car Co andbattery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co,which have backed Byton; technology firms Baidu Inc andTencent Holdings, which have funded WM Motor, andinternet giant Alibaba Group Holding, which hasinvested in Xiaopeng Motors.

In the United States, GM and BMW have backed Proterra, theelectric bus maker, while Caterpillar Inc, which is bestknown for heavy construction machinery, has invested in HenrikFisker's latest electric vehicle project, Fisker Inc.

(Reporting by Paul Lienert in DetroitEditing by Tom Brown)