Exor Invests in Ride-Share Firm Via -- WSJ
March 31 2020 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Cara Lombardo
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (March 31, 2020).
Exor NV, the holding company of Italy's Agnelli family, is
investing in ride-share company Via Transportation Inc. that would
mark its first big foray into the technology sector.
Exor said Monday it is investing $200 million in New York-based
Via. The investment would give Exor just under a 9% stake in Via
and would value Via at $2.25 billion. Via had last been valued at
roughly $1 billion in late 2017, according to Pitchbook.
The Wall Street Journal first reported details of the investment
earlier Monday.
Via will become one of Exor's primary investments alongside
significant stakes in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Ferrari NV,
Italian soccer club Juventus and the Economist magazine, among
others.
Via was founded in 2012 by Daniel Ramot and Oren Shoval, two
friends who met in the Israeli army, and launched in New York City
the following year. Unlike larger rivals Uber Technologies Inc. and
Lyft Inc., which tend to ferry individual riders, Via's focus is
arranging carpools and partnering with cities, companies and
schools to provide software to make shuttle and public transit
routes more responsive to demand. In some cases, it also operates
the routes.
For example, the company has a contract with the New York City
Department of Education to use its software to plan school-bus
routes, and it operates on-demand vans in cities including
Seattle.
Exor, run by chairman and CEO John Elkann, previously made a
small investment in Via through its Exor Seeds venture fund,
according to its website. Noam Ohana, who runs Exor Seeds, will
join the board of Via as part of the deal.
Mr. Ramot said in an interview that Exor and Mr. Elkann's team
brings an understanding of how the transportation industry is
changing and the expanded role Via could play in its future.
"You need that sort of patient investor who's not looking for an
exit two or three years down the road but is looking to build
something," he said.
Via operates in 70 cities around the world. Like many startups,
it has been focused on expansion and hasn't yet posted a
profit.
The investment would help Via increase in scale and apply its
platform not just to personal travel but also deliveries. It isn't
being made with an eye toward combining Via with one of Exor's
automobile holdings, people familiar with the matter said.
Like its competitors, Via has suspended shared rides in some
areas in response to the coronavirus pandemic and has retooled some
of its services. For example, it said last week it was partnering
with the Berlin transit system to give rides to health-care workers
in off-hours.
Even before recent widespread shutdowns caused ride numbers to
plummet, Via and other startups faced increased scrutiny from
investors who have become more wary of unprofitable companies in
the wake of WeWork's aborted IPO and last year's disappointing
debuts of Uber and Lyft.
As of Friday, Uber and Lyft were worth roughly $47 billion and
$8.5 billion, respectively, a significant drop from their IPOs. Via
has said its focus on shared rides makes it more sustainable and
less likely to cause congestion than other ride-hailing
services.
The Agnelli family owns 53% of Exor through a holding company
controlled by more than 100 descendants of Mr. Elkann's
great-great-grandfather, who co-founded Fiat at the end of the 19th
century.
Exor owns 30% of Fiat Chrysler, a stake that will be cut in half
when the Italian-American car maker completes its merger with
Peugeot maker PSA Group by early next year. The holding company
also owns 23% of luxury car maker Ferrari, almost two-thirds of
Juventus and 27% of agricultural-equipment maker CNH Industrial
NV.
Exor also owns reinsurer PartnerRe Ltd., which it recently
agreed to sell for roughly $9 billion to French insurer Covéa
Coopérations.
Write to Cara Lombardo at cara.lombardo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 31, 2020 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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