Austin—Capital Factory is launching a new accelerator program with moovel North America, which is part of a company founded by Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler AG, for startups that have technology targeting the transportation sector.
Called MobilityX and based at Capital Factory’s co-working space in Austin, TX, the accelerator aims to give Daimler input, connections, and potential technology for its work in new areas of mobility and transportation, including connected, autonomous, and electric cars, the companies said. Startups that are accepted (they apply on the accelerator’s website) get mentorship from Capital Factory and Daimler executives, office and meeting space at Capital Factory, and other business advice.
“The program is intended to help incoming startups accelerate the development of mobility-focused solutions and connect them into the Daimler ecoystem for business opportunities,” the companies wrote in a news release.
Moovel North America is a Portland, OR-based subsidiary of Daimler’s moovel Group GmbH, which the Stuttgart, Germany-based automaker created to seek out new transportation technology.
As Xconomy’s Detroit editor Sarah Schmid Stevenson noted last year, “mobility” is what the auto industry describes as moving goods and people from point A to point B. Detroit-based Techstars Mobility has its own startup incubator in the field, while other carmakers are likewise looking at startups as idea funnels; Ford, for example, has an investment arm focused on mobility. Jaguar has a similar accelerator program in London, and other tech accelerator programs, such as MIT’s Delta V, include transportation as a theme.
