Munich Startup: As we last spoken With Deepdrive, you wanted to have the first vehicle platforms on the road in customer projects as soon as possible. Were you able to achieve this goal?
Felix Poernbacher, Deepdrive: Vehicle platforms were so exciting for us back then because we had developed a highly innovative, revolutionary electric motor that was so small and compact that it fit inside a wheel. This enabled the very flat, scalable, and modular vehicle platforms we had planned for many of the small, new vehicle manufacturers. But as we continued to refine our motor technology, our customers—including many of the major automakers—started asking if they could buy just the motor. They suddenly became incredibly interested in our modern technology, which has the potential to truly transform the market. That's why we decided to focus our development work even more on the drive itself. Now, almost two years later, we work with eight of the ten largest automakers in the world and sell our motors to them.
Deepdrive sticks with the platform – but puts it back
Munich Startup: What prompted you to make this pivot?
Felix Poernbacher: It has always been our overarching goal Rethinking electrification and electric vehicles. Fundamentally nothing has changed and our core technology has always been the same. And we still believe in the platform just as much as before – there is huge potential in the market. For the time being, however, we have put it on hold because the motor technology we have developed alone has such a major impact on the automotive industry and so much traction that we have to focus on it. We don’t see ourselves as a platform startup, or even as a motor startup, but as a company that brings highly innovative, revolutionary technologies to market. And our core technology is a new electric drive that our major automotive customers say could become the standard for electric motors in the next ten years.
Munich Startup: How has your technology itself evolved?
Felix Poernbacher: We've validated our core technology and demonstrated the three major advantages of our motor technology. First, its extremely high efficiency: With our drives, a vehicle travels 20 percent further or needs 20 percent smaller batteries for the same range. We can produce cost-effectively and easily, and our motor is so compact that it fits inside the vehicle's wheel. We've set up test benches and sold motors to customers who have tested them themselves. Over the past two years, we've not only been able to demonstrate that our claims are true and that this technology will work, but we've also been able to take the first major steps toward series production.
“We will soon raise new capital again”
Munich Startup: And how are things looking financially for you?
Felix Poernbacher: We still have sufficient funds from our last financing round, in which we raised €4.3 million. We also received another €1.5 million in funding from the Free State of Bavaria. This means we're well funded, but now we have the big problem—and it's a good problem—that we need to grow. We have a huge amount of demand and need to scale, especially within the team. This means we'll be raising new capital again soon, as we need to grow faster than originally planned.
But that also presents us with challenges. We have a great location here: a total of 800 square meters with a prototype workshop, production line, our own test benches, our own e-laboratories, and sufficient office space. However, when we build a larger prototype facility in the next phase, it will be incredibly tight here. We currently have over 30 employees, but we want to grow to around 80, and we'll have to accommodate them here.
Munich Startup: What learnings have you as a founding team learned so far?
Felix Poernbacher: There are seven of us founders, and at the beginning, everyone told us it wouldn't work. Our biggest learning was: it does work. What helps us, of course, is that we have very clear responsibilities and areas of responsibility, and people can make decisions relatively independently in their areas. And that applies not only to the founding team, but to the entire extended team. It's important to us that decisions are made as decentralized as possible by the experts who sit there.
“We would always start up in Munich again”
Munich Startup: What role has the Munich ecosystem played in your journey so far?
Felix Poernbacher: The Munich ecosystem has given us a tremendous amount; it was a real kickstart. Firstly, of course, because many of us come from the Technical University of Munich and we have a good network. But secondly, because the environment is incredibly startup-friendly: the UnternehmerTUM With its very close, strong network and exciting people, many large companies that are very startup-friendly, the city offers great support - we would always start up in Munich again.
In the next few years, however, we will enter a phase where we as a company will look beyond Munich, especially when it comes to financing. Because big tickets are simply written outside of Germany, across the pond. But we will continue to have our home and our headquarters in Munich. A large part of our supply chain and many of our partners are located in Bavaria and Germany. It is incredibly important for us to have short distances during the development phase, and we also want to keep our series production in the region. At the same time, it is important for us as an automotive supplier to be as close to our customers as possible. So if we have a German customer, we will produce in Germany, and if we have an American customer, we will at least produce most of it in America.
Deepdrive begins series production
Munich Startup: What milestones is Deepdrive working towards next?
Felix Poernbacher: Our next major milestone is to secure a large-scale production contract and sell our engines to major automakers. We're well on our way here. We're talking to many customers, have extremely good traction, and have taken the first major steps toward industrialization on the technology side. We have a strong partnership with a major manufacturing partner, which we'll be able to announce in the coming months. This partner will initially produce the engines for us in series. We'll also build the first test vehicles in 2023. However, secrecy is always a top priority in the automotive industry, which is why we can't reveal any more at this point.
