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Phantom Auto , a remote driving inauguration that launched seven years ago amid the bombilation of self-reliant fomite technology , is shutting down after failing to secure new funding , TechCrunch has learned .
The companionship , which had lift a total of $ 95 million , developed a teleoperation political platform that allow a remote driver , sometimes located thousands of miles away , to operate a vehicle if need . The company attracted a mix of backers , including angel investors and early - point VCs such as Bessemer Venture Partners and Maniv Mobility , private equity house InfraBridge and strategic investors such as ArcBest and ConGlobal . The startup ’s last raisewas $ 25 millionin 2023 .
The startup had come nigh to securing another round of drinks of funding , but it fell through by chance , according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity . At its height , the startup employed about 120 people . Phantom Auto , which had turn off staff last yr , employed a little more than 100 people as of this week . It was based in South San Francisco .
Phantom Auto ’s demise is the belated in a long telephone circuit of startups that pop up as the self-governing fomite technology industriousness get ahead tending and investing from investors . That bombination , which led to billion - dollar bill learning and valuations in the industry , pass off as optimistic timeline to deploy robotaxis and self - get vehicles fall away . A undulation of consolidation , shutdowns and pin followed . The difficult fundraising environment in the past 18 calendar month have another wave of closures .
Phantom Auto founder and CEO Shai MagzimofpostedTuesday on LinkedIn that the caller was terminate operations .
“ After seven days of efforts to reshape the futurity of forcible labor at Phantom Auto , we ’ve made the tough decision to shut operations . there are various factor contributing to this , let in market condition and insufficient funding , ” he write . “ I extract gratitude to our employees , investors , customers , partners , and all who ’ve join us on this journeying . these times are challenging , but my primary concern is our team . We possess exceptional talent now seeking opportunities in the job securities industry . I ’m commit to providing references for our employees . in person , I ’ll be assume a pause to relax and think about the next steps . ”
Sources told TechCrunch that the caller had traction on the client deployment side . However , it was still reliant on external financial backing to keep operations live on and finally to descale .
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Phantom Auto was base in 2017 and initially focused on utilise its teleops engineering science to autonomous vehicles on public roadways such as robotaxis and ego - driving truck . The company ’s executive team soon realise that even with its engineering science , large - scale commercial-grade deployments of driverless vehicles on public road was decades away .
Phantom Autopivoted in 2019and started betray its outside driving system to logistics , specifically forklift and railyard truck that have no autonomy as well asautonomous sidewalk delivery golem . All of these vehicle operate at low speed and , with the exclusion of delivery bot , are in confined environments . The company had customer agreements with Maersk , CJ Logistics , ArcBest and self-reliant sidewalk bot startup Serve Robotics .
