Tesla is building its third plant outside the US in Mexico

After the plants in Shanghai and Grünheide, production is now also to take place in Monterrey. Also: Mixed news from Rivian, successes for Instacart and the authorities targeting the FTX scam.

Good morning! While you slept, work continued elsewhere in the digital scene.

The top topics:

Tesla will build a new plant in Monterrey, Mexico. The electric car maker must adhere to a number of obligations in order not to worsen the water shortage there, as the Mexican President said at a press conference on Tuesday. According to Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the US company has agreed to use recycled water throughout the manufacturing process at the plant, including when painting the cars.

The president said he spoke to Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Friday and Monday. He reacted quickly, understood his concerns and accepted suggestions. The new plant is a significant investment in Mexico and will create numerous jobs. Monterrey is an industrial city near the US-Mexico border. The plant will be the third manufacturing facility outside of the United States – after China and Germany. More information is expected to be announced at Tesla’s investor day in Texas on Wednesday, which will be streamed live on YouTube. [Mehr bei CNBC und Reuters]

On Founder scene: The delivery service Joker by ex-Foodpanda CEO Ralph Wenzel is worth over a billion euros. Jokr has shrunk its business to a minimum in recent months, the rating has fallen and failures are piling up. Our editor Lisa Ksienrzyk has summarized and classified the most recent events for you. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]

And here are the other headlines of the night:

Rivian Automotive delivered mixed results for the fourth quarter. The outlook is not particularly rosy either. Shares in the electric vehicle startup fell by around eight percent in after-hours trading. The company posted an adjusted loss of $1.73 per share. Analysts had expected $1.94. On the other hand, the analysts overestimated Rivian in terms of revenue: instead of $742.4 million, only $663 million came together. For 2023, Rivian forecasts vehicle production of 50,000 units. The company also had to recall some vehicles for repairs again. [Mehr bei CNBC und Wall Street Journal]

Instacart was able to increase its revenues last year by 39 percent to 2.5 billion US dollars. The delivery service is increasingly relying on advertising instead of food delivery businesses. In the fourth quarter in particular, revenue increased by more than 50 percent compared to the same period last year, while gross profit increased by more than 80 percent, according to a media report. [Mehr bei Wall Street Journal]

The former FTXEngineering chief Nishad Singh pleaded guilty in New York on Tuesday. He is another member of founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s former executive team who agreed to a deal. The charges include securities fraud and money laundering. The crypto exchange went bankrupt in November. “Today’s guilty plea underscores once again that the crimes at FTX were colossal in scope and consequence,” Manhattan Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “They rocked our financial markets with a multi-billion dollar scam. And they corrupted our politics with tens of millions of dollars in illegal campaign contributions. [Mehr bei CNBC]

Nio starts a model offensive in Europe, as reported by the “Handelsblatt”. The Chinese electric car manufacturer apparently even wants it in the premium segment Audi, BMW and Mercedes to record. The Chinese company relies on exchangeable batteries for its concept. This is to avoid long loading times. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt]

Investments: Studentfinance, a European fintech that finances educational programs for individuals in exchange for income sharing, has raised €39 million in a Series A funding round. Founded in Spain in 2019, Studentfinance partners with educational institutions such as Ironhack and Le Wagon to fund those wishing to continue their education in areas such as software development, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI). Temporala platform for open-source microservices developed by companies like Netflix, Snap and Comcast has raised $75 million from a number of high-profile investors including Sequoia Capital and Greenoaks. Typefacea startup developing an AI-powered dashboard for designing marketing copy and imagery, launched this week with $65 million in venture equity backing. [Mehr bei Techcrunch, Techcrunch und Techcrunch]

Our reading tip on Gründerszene: startups and Nestlé – that has always been a tricky combination. Same with Yfood: The Munich food startup has brought the controversial food company on board as a new investor. You can find out what the founders are hoping for in Daniel Hüfner’s report. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]

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Happy Wednesday!

Your Gründerszene editors