After creating ripples in the impact ecosystem last year, Villgro, India’s oldest and one of the world’s largest social enterprise incubators, is set to kickstart the upcoming financial year by announcing several new partnerships. The incubator invested in 21 agribusiness, education and healthcare companies last year, many of which were sourced through iPitch, its annual national sourcing program. Deepening the focus on the 8 low income states of India, 127 investments were made through one of the world’s largest social innovation programmes, INVENT, that Villgro runs with support from the Technology Development Board, Govt. of India and the DFID, UK Government.

Villgro is known for its unique incubation model focusing on deep sectoral expertise and high touch mentoring, and 2018 saw the launch of deep expertise in a new sector – Renewable Energy. In partnership with GIZ, the incubator supported 50 early stage energy access companies and is going to expand that pool by partnering with UNDP.

While Villgro has always been supported by key names in the funding community, FY 2018-19 saw a paradigm shift with many corporates engaging in CSR partnerships with Villgro for BoP social impact. Some critical partnerships of the year:

• With Accenture to scale up ventures working on skilling and employability related challenges.
• With Hindustan Unilever Foundation to focus on incubating startups managing water use in agriculture and improve efficiencies across farming.
• With Rabobank to support agri-tech startups working to reduce food loss and improve supply chain efficiencies.
• With Yes Bank YES Scale accelerator programme to support startups connect with large corporations and commercialise innovations.

With continued partner support, Villgro has impacted over 19 million underprivileged lives so far, and many more to go.

The upcoming year looks exciting for Villgro, where the plan is to incubate and invest in more companies through an even bigger iPitch programme in July-August, to provide them follow-on support through the Villgro – Menterra platform, and expand markets for them by leveraging its presence in Kenya, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Organisations looking to partner can reach out to Villgro at info@villgro.org and be the catalysing agents for creating large scale social impact.

SOURCE Villgro

EVELOZCITY, a Los Angeles based company creating electric vehicles (EV) made for subscription, announced today that Canoo is its new name. Canoo will be a boutique Californian brand that will offer four unique vehicles in cities by subscription only:

• A lifestyle vehicle
• A personal commuter vehicle
• A last-mile delivery vehicle
• A ride-hailing vehicle

“We picked Canoo because it sounds distinctive, looks cool and creates a feeling of both relaxation and movement,” said Stefan Krause, who is In Charge of Canoo. “For thousands of years, a canoe has been a simple, sustainable transportation device used all over the world.”

The Company will launch its first model in the U.S. beginning in 2021. By leveraging the benefits of a flat EV platform, Canoo is able to create unique vehicles that look nothing like what is on the road today. Canoo’s vehicles will move away from traditional three box car design, which have separate compartments for the engine, passengers and luggage. Instead, the Company is embracing a minimalist design that maximizes interior space. The lifestyle vehicle, for example, will have the exterior footprint of a compact car, with the interior space of a large SUV.

While only 15-months-old, the Company already has more than 350 team members and is growing steadily. Canoo is excited to announce several key hires:

Olivier Bellin has been appointed to be In Charge of Operations, which includes supply chain, program management and project financials. Olivier spent 20 years at STMicroelectronics, a Geneva based semiconductor leader, where he ultimately advanced to serve as VP Finance & CFO of the Americas. He was also VP of Supply Chain for California startup ICON Aircraft.

Canoo also announces that the former President of BMW Manufacturing LLC, Clemens Schmitz-Justen, recently joined to be In Charge of Manufacturing. Clemens will be responsible for overseeing Canoo’s contract manufacturing strategy. With his help, the Company will take an asset lean approach, outsourcing production of its vehicles in the U.S. and China.

Beginning mid-April, James Cox will join Canoo from Uber to be In Charge of Digital. James spent the last four years at Uber’s headquarters, where he led global product operations for the Uber rider app. Prior to that, he was part of the product team that launched and built UberPOOL and spent a year launching ride-sharing (UberX) in Australia. James will be critical in setting Canoo’s strategy for digital services, including the implementation of the Company’s cloud-based customer offerings and underlying ecosystem.

Shi (Time) Aobing was appointed In Charge of HR in China and joins the Company after spending 11 years at SAIC Motor, a Fortune Global 500 company. During his tenure there, Time worked on a joint initiative (now called Banma) with Alibaba Group, to build the world’s first mass-produced Internet car, and he was responsible for building the organizational structure and growing the team. Now, Time is responsible for growing the Canoo team in Shanghai, which is instrumental for the Company as the U.S. and China are the two most important regions.

There are 3 key areas where Canoo is taking a unique approach:

1. Unique Products: A design that will look like nothing on the road today by challenging the norms of space and function, as well as offering a lean User Interface (UI)
2. Next-generation Business Model: A new approach to the EV market that focuses on reducing production and infrastructure costs while increasing revenue
3. 100% subscription, secured by blockchain technology

Unique Product

Design

Typical automotive styling, expressive sculpture, and grille shape are not meaningful enough to solve today’s issues surrounding mobility and vehicle usage. Canoo is creating unique vehicles to address the current needs and use cases of customers. There is no need for electric vehicles to look like traditional cars, yet today they still do. Canoo plans to change that. Canoo is creating an all-new uncompromising EV design that looks and offers functionality that is nothing like the cars on the road today.

Lean User Interface

Traditional car makers have an outdated approach that is focused on proprietary infotainment systems and overwhelming screens, but most customers just want to use the very same services they are used to having on their phones when inside the vehicle. Rather than reinventing the wheel, Canoo is developing a lean user interface that easily connects with the user’s own existing digital life.

Next-generation Business Model

Building electric vehicles is expensive, therefore, Canoo is rethinking the traditional automotive business model. Canoo’s cost structure is very lean. The Company is focused on lowering costs and generating higher revenue through:

Vehicle Architecture

Canoo is developing a “skateboard” architecture, which will house a battery and electric drivetrain that can achieve up to 300 miles of range. All of Canoo’s vehicles will share the same underpinning. Different cabins or “top hats” will be married on top to create the four unique vehicles. Leveraging the same fixed and flat skateboard allows for reduced R&D costs, efficient production and a better use of interior space. The skateboard houses the most expensive components of the vehicle and is designed in a way that most crash testing does not need to be repeated per vehicle, reducing the vehicle’s development cycle timeline and costs.

Lifecycle

Electric powertrains inherently have a long low-maintenance life. The Company will take cues from the airline industry and refurbish the vehicles to keep them up to date over their lifecycle.

Contract Manufacturing

Canoo is asset-lean. The Company will use contract manufacturing to outsource production in the U.S. and China.

Partnership approach

For areas like autonomous driving that require very specialized expertise, Canoo is working with leaders in many fields to integrate the latest technologies into the vehicles to offer the best possible product experience to its subscribers.

Direct to Consumer

Canoo will not have a physical sales network. The Company will offer its product directly to customers.

100% subscription, using blockchain technology

Subscription

Canoo’s subscriptions will have no specific duration commitment. There will be different packages available from 24/7 access, to more flexible options – each for affordable payments that include insurance and other services.

Blockchain

Canoo products and services will run on secure blockchain technology. The Company believes blockchain will be a great enabler for a whole new wave of services and business models for the automotive industry, including vehicle sharing.

SOURCE Canoo