On April 12th, Bosch announced its acquisition of FiveAI. 

Notion first invested in FiveAI in 2016, alongside our friends at Amadeus and Kindred; and we continued to back the company along its amazing journey. What always got me excited about FiveAI was its fearless vision to solve one of the technology world’s most challenging problems in autonomous driving. Underpinning this vision was a proven, ambitious, and talented CEO in Stan Boland.

The company was fully committed to harnessing the remarkable STEM talent we have in Europe, to build a true European autonomous driving leader, in a market that is set to become huge over time. And it’s not just about the size of the commercial opportunity. Autonomous driving will reshape transportation - saving time, reducing traffic and helping the environment.

It turns out that this market (like many technology markets before it) is going to take longer and cost more to reach meaningful commercialisation than any of us anticipated. This made it increasingly important for Five to find the right partner if they were going to leverage the full potential of what they’ve started.

Five built a highly talented team of 140 people, a world class development and test environment, and demonstrated a Level 4 self-driving system on public roads. I believe Bosch could see how Five’s team and technology could turbo-charge their autonomous driving strategy.

Bosch is the world’s largest supplier of automotive components and brings the brand, the distribution and the resources needed to compete effectively, and to win in this market. I’m really excited at these companies joining forces and believe it will help Bosch forge its place as a leader in autonomous driving within Europe and beyond.

Congratulations to Stan and the whole team at Five for all the value that you’ve created for the company and on finding the right partner to take it forward.