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GM boosts investment in electric, autonomous vehicles by $8 billion
General Motors plans to boost its cumulative investment in electric and autonomous vehicles to $35 billion from 2020-2025, a significant jump from a $27 billion target.
Driving the news: GM said this morning that the initiative will include building two new battery cell manufacturing plants in addition to the two already under construction in Tennessee and Ohio.
- GM, without providing details, also said it's adding new commercial electric trucks to its planned EV lineup and additional U.S. assembly capacity for electric SUVs.
Why it matters: It signals how the world's biggest automakers are betting big on electric vehicles that now represent a tiny — albeit growing — share of global sales.
- GM rival Ford recently increased its estimated investment in EVs and related technologies to $30 billion by 2025.
- The moves come as regulators in the U.S. and abroad are pushing EVs to fight climate change.
The intrigue: The industry faces also activist pressure to act more aggressively, and a suite of startups are entering the game.
- Increasing demand for batteries is prompting automakers to more aggressively build up their own supplies.
The big picture: It's GM's second major increase in planned EV investments in less than two years.
- "We're seeing strong profitability on the [internal combustion engine] franchise. We have to make sure we continue to invest in [scaling] EVs to get the cost down. Acceleration is absolutely right risk for us to invest in right now," GM chief financial officer Paul Jacobson told reporters this morning.
Axios' Joann Muller contributed reporting.
Venture capitalists invested a record $288 billion in the first half of 2021
Venture capitalists invested $288 billion in the first half of 2021, an all-time record, per Crunchbase.
By the numbers: Venture capitalists invested $140 billion into U.S.-based startups in the first half of 2021, anall-time record, per Ernst & Young. At that pace, the 2020 total should be surpassed in a matter of days.
- Venture capitalists sold $232 billion worth of tech startups in the first half of 2021, an all-time record, according to 451 Research (a unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence).
- 410 companies went public on the Nasdaq in the first half of 2021, an all-time record, partially driven by an all-time record number of SPAC listings.
- Buyout activity in the first half of 2021 hit an all-time record, including a whopping $126 billion for North American deals in Q2 alone, per Preqin.
- Global M&A in the first half of 2021 topped $2.82 trillion, as we previously discussed, an all-time record.
All of this feeds on itself. For example, lots of VC exits lead to lots of VC deals, both because of animal spirits and structural reasons like fund recycling provisions.
- Plus, Preqin reports that there was an all-time record 5,248 private equity and venture capital funds in market at the start of July, targeting $900 billion. That would be on top of an all-time record amount of existing dry powder in PE/VC funds.
FDA calls for independent review of Alzheimer's drug approval
FDA Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock on Friday formally asked the HHS' Office of Inspector General to "conduct an independent review and assessment of interactions between representatives of Biogen and FDA during the process that led to the approval of Aduhelm."
Why it matters: Aduhelm has been one of the most controversial drug approvals in recent memory. The rare move from the agency comes on the heels of a STAT News report that detailed how Biogen and FDA officials worked closely during the process, and possibly violated FDA rules with an "off-the-books" meeting.