Yinson Holdings has entered into an agreement with SMRT Ventures to co-invest a multi-million dollar amount in local autonomous vehicle tech startup MooVita.
As the lead investor in this fundraising round by MooVita in June 2021, the investment marks Yinson’s first foray into mobility – one of three segments alongside marine and energy that the group is actively earmarking under its newly established and wholly-owned Singapore-based subsidiary Yinson Green Technologies Division (YGT).
The co-investment, which forms part of MooVita’s Series A funding, aims to accelerate the development, commercialisation and international expansion of MooVita’s driverless solutions. This starts with the deployment of safe and comfortable driverless solutions for public transportation and the urban environment. These plans are aligned with Singapore’s “Sustainable Singapore Blueprint.”
Eirik Barclay, Yinson group EVP for new ventures and technology, said that the investment was in line with YGT’s ambitions of accelerating the global transition to a low-carbon economy through green technology investments.
“Our plan is to replace existing infrastructure and develop innovative business solutions in order to make transportation sustainable through the adoption of clean and environmentally-sound technologies,” said Barclay.
He added that there are also future plans to operationalise the technology in Malaysia, where Yinson was founded and is currently headquartered.
Dilip Limbu, MooVita co-founder and COO, said they will focus on advancing their driverless technologies, building a fleet of driverless shuttle buses and safe on-road operations, and expediting the deployment of the MooVita’s driverless public transport solutions across Asian urbanscapes, starting from Singapore and Malaysia.
MooVita is currently developing an industry-leading component-based driverless software solution, which transforms various vehicle types into versatile autonomous vehicles for multitudinous driving conditions and applications, such as first or last mile transportation, logistic transportation, agriculture, and utility solutions.
