BMW increases corporate venture investment pool to $900 million

BMW has established a second corporate venture fund, earmarking $300 million to bankroll startup companies focused on sustainability, advanced production, and future transportation, the automaker said Wednesday.

BMW i Ventures, based in Mountain View, California, will manage the fund, and also continue to disburse money from its initial 500-million-euro fund. The two funds bring the automaker’s total venture investment pool to almost $900 million, one of the largest in the auto industry.

BMW, through five-year-old i Ventures, has earlier invested in more than 50 companies, including several that have gone or are set to go public, among them ChargePoint and Proterra.

Its focus continues to be on early to mid-stage startup companies, many of them based in Silicon Valley.

Earlier investments have ranged from Boston Metal, whose technology allows emissions-free steel production, to Prometheus Fuels, a producer of carbon-neutral gasoline.