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Exclusive: Kinetic raises $10M to build EV service centers

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Kinetic's first service station, in Orange County, Calif. Photo: Courtesy of Kinetic Automation

Kinetic Automation has closed a $10 million Series A to expand its network of electric vehicle–focused service centers.

How it works: Cars from conventional Corollas to electric i5s are filled with sensors that can be a challenge to fix. Kinetic aims to be the go-to shop to repair them.

State of play: Even bare-bones new cars have sensors to help with highway driving, reversing and other parts of daily driving.

  • When they're damaged, fixing and recalibrating them can add hours to a repair.

What's happening: Kinetic says it's developed software that repairs and properly resets the sensors in minutes.

  • The Santa Ana, Calif.-based startup is now working with repair shops and dealerships to handle that part of the repair process.

The latest: It's opened a location near its headquarters in Orange County that's already turned a profit. It plans to open a second location in Las Vegas.

Between the lines: Both areas have seen high rates of adoption for both electric vehicles and self-driving vehicles — all of which have an especially large number of sensors.

Of note: As the company expands, it plans to work with fleet operators as well.

Details: Lux Capital and Construct Capital led the all-equity round, which closed in early June.

  • Haystack Ventures, Automotive Ventures and Shakti Ventures participated, as well as Applied Intuition CEO Qasar Younis, former GM CEO Rick Wagoner and DoorDash product lead Gokul Rajaram.
  • Lux Capital general partner Bilal Zuberi and Construct Capital general partner Rachel Holt joined Kinetic's board.
  • Basak Ozer, CEO of digital health company Spica and former chief product lead at autonomous driving tech developer Motional, joined the board as an independent director.
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