February 20, 2022: Another Strong Week Of Canadian VC Announcements

Even as public markets remain choppy, we counted Canadian VC funding totaling almost $600 million in the past week. Public markets remain unforgiving, as evidenced by Shopify’s steep share price decline this past week. With fintech stocks down 40%, Chime delays its IPO. SoftBank is reportedly seeking a US$8 billion margin loan as part of Arm IPO. Banks are planning to pitch IPO valuations for Arm of upward of US$50 billion. Arm is likely worth US$25 billion to US$35 billion based on the industry’s valuation metrics and analysts’ early projections; Bloomberg reported this month. Crypto company Circle doubled its valuation to US$9 billion under new SPAC terms. Sequoia Capital is raising up to US$600 million for a new fund focused on cryptocurrency start-ups. The announcement marks the firm’s first-ever sector-focused investment fund, a sign of its long-term commitment to the exploding crypto sector. Epic says there are now more than 500 million Epic games accounts. Sea Ltd. lost more than US$16 billion of value in its biggest daily market drop after India abruptly banned its most popular mobile gaming title. Super Bowl ads boosted crypto app downloads by 279%, led by Coinbase, which had to briefly throttle traffic after its website crashed. Google is creating new privacy rules for its Android smartphone operating system to curb how users are tracked for advertising purposes, the company said Wednesday, following the path Apple forged with its App Tracking Transparency rules. Construction of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s first advanced chip plant in the U.S. is three to six months behind schedule, sources told Nikkei Asia, a sign that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker is finding it more challenging to expand overseas than at home.

VOTI Detection (VOTI-TSXV) announces private placement led by Echelon Wealth Partners.

VOTI Detection Inc. is pleased to announce its intention to complete a brokered private placement on a commercially reasonable efforts basis for gross proceeds of up to approximately C$4,000,000 (the “Offering”). The Offering will be led by Echelon Wealth Partners Inc. as lead agent and sole bookrunner (the “Agent”). https://bit.ly/3ByfXES

BuildDirect (BILD-TSXV) closes secured debt financing for US$3 million.

BuildDirect, announces the closing of a secured debt financing pursuant to which it issued, via its wholly owned subsidiary BuildDirect Operations Limited, secured notes to Pelecanus Investments Ltd., Lyra Growth Partners Inc. and Beedie Investments Ltd. in an aggregated amount of US$3 million. https://bit.ly/3JCfvs7

Shopify (SHOP-NYSE, SHOP-TSX) stock falls despite earnings beat.

Shares of Shopify Inc. were off more than 3% in premarket trading Wednesday though the e-commerce company topped expectations with its latest earnings and revenue figures. Shopify posted a fourth-quarter net loss of US$371.3 million, or US$2.95 a share, whereas it generated net income of US$123.9 million, or US$0.99 a share, in the year-earlier quarter. The company’s loss in the most recent quarter included a US$509.7 million net unrealized loss on investments. Shopify saw adjusted earnings per share decline to US$1.36 from US$1.58 a year prior, though the company came in ahead of the FactSet consensus, which was for US$1.30. Revenue rose to US$1.38 billion from US$978 million, while analysts had been looking for US$1.34 billion. Shopify’s gross merchandise volume came in at US$54.1 billion, above the FactSet consensus, which was for about US$53 billion. For the full year ahead, Shopify anticipates that revenue growth will be below the 57% rate seen in 2021 “but still rapid and outpacing the growth of e-commerce. https://on.mktw.net/3BLf0cN

Water Ways’ (WWT-TSXV) Uzbekistan project backlog increases to $9.4 million after signing third project in Uzbekistan totaling $2.7 million.

Water Ways Technologies Inc., a global provider of Israeli-based agriculture technology, providing water irrigation solutions to agricultural producers is pleased to announce the signing, effective February 9, 2022, of a third cotton smart drip irrigation project in Uzbekistan increasing project backlog to be executed in 2022 to over $9.4 million. The value of the third project in the Bukhara province of Uzbekistan is $2.7 million and is planned to be completed by the third quarter of 2022. The agreement includes $100,000 in service and consulting services. The project irrigates using fully automated drip irrigation technology servicing a field of 886 hectares of cotton. The project includes the construction of 6 reservoirs of water and 6 complete head controls. Each head control consists of pumping system, filtration, pressure management units, fertigation, and a cloud based automation system which will activate and operate the entire system. https://bit.ly/3GWM1n6

Paper Secures $343 million with US schools drawn to its remote tutoring tech.

On a mission to “democratize access” to academic supports outside of the classroom, Montréal-based EdTech startup Paper has secured $343 million in Series D capital to do just that. The round comes less than a year after Paper closed a $123 million Series C round. Paper has seen significant growth in that time, doubling the number of students it serves – from one million last year to two million students now. https://bit.ly/34PJ1Mk

Cohere closes US$125 million Series B round led by Tiger Global.

Toronto-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup Cohere has secured US$125 million in Series B financing to fuel its United States expansion plans. Cohere, which aims to make natural language processing (NLP) more accessible, first emerged from stealth in May 2021 and announced a US$40 million Series A round in September. Since then, Cohere has opened up general access to its API and inked a partnership to leverage Google Cloud’s AI infrastructure. https://bit.ly/3HXw4yi

Convictional Secures $50.7 million, announces UK expansion.

Riding on the coattails of a growing e-commerce sector, Convictional has secured $50.7 million in Series B funding. Convictional offers a B2B e-commerce platform to help retailers and distributors source, onboard, transact, and scale with suppliers of any kind. The startup plans to use the new funds for product development, and for the expansion of sales and marketing. Convictional hopes to add another 80 employees to its existing 45 person team. https://bit.ly/3tanqGL

RideCo drives up expansion with $20 million Series A.

Transit tech and services company RideCo has secured a $20 million Series A funding round. Led by Eclipse Ventures, the financing marks RideCo’s first financing round since it was founded in 2015. Headquartered in Waterloo, RideCo aims to make transit convenient to ride, and cost effective to operate. The firm partners with public transportation agencies, municipalities, and local fleet operators to curate and operate on-demand transit services. https://bit.ly/3sJItQ4

Alongside closes $8 million Series A to merge it’s HR Tools with CareerBeacon’s job site.

Moncton-based human resources (HR) software startup Alongside( has secured $8 million in Series A financing to expand its product suite and set the stage for its expansion across the country. Alongside has already invested some of the funding from the December round to make a strategic acquisition, acquiring jobs site CareerBeacon from Irving family-owned media company Brunswick News late last year. https://bit.ly/34RZuzt

Paramedic tech provider Prehos secures $7.2 million in seed funding.

Prehos, a Quebéc City-based paramedic tech startup, has raised $7.2 million in seed funding. The financing came from the Government of Québec’s Investissement Québec, Centre Desjardins Entreprises Lévis-Lotbinière-Bellechasse, as well as Dessercom and other private investors whose identities were not disclosed. Prehos’ platform aims to improve the delivery of pre-hospital emergency and home care. Investissement Québec previously provided $144,000 in financial support to Prehos in 2019 to enable the company to accelerate its international deployment. That same year, ambulance services provider Dessercom invested $1.7 million. https://bit.ly/3sZ9C1I

Roach Capital closes $6.4 million for first fund from prominent VCs, Shopify execs.

Led by former Shopify product lead and entrepreneur-turned-investor Fahd Ananta, Toronto-based Roach Capital has closed about $6.4 million to invest in early-stage internet businesses. After founding and selling his own Canadian tech companies and spending years working as a product lead at major tech firms like Shopify and Snap — the company behind Snapchat — Ananta launched Roach Capital in 2019 as a vehicle to invest his own money. https://bit.ly/3JA1tHy

LifeSpeak to acquire digital fitness platform Wellbeats for up to $117.9 million.

Online wellness company LifeSpeak is set to acquire Minnesota-based Wellbeats for up to $117.9 million. An upfront payment of US$80 million is payable in cash upon completion of the deal, with the remaining US$12.5 million paid as an earnout on the achievement of predetermined 2022 milestones. The transaction is expected to close in March. The acquisition is set to be funded through cash on hand as well as a $97.5 million credit facility that LifeSpeak is set to enter into with Scotiabank’s Technology Innovation and Banking Group. According to LifeSpeak, an additional $30 million from Scotiabank will be available through an accordion facility. https://bit.ly/3LLGX8y

With fintech stocks down 40%, Chime delays its IPO.

Digital bank Chime is delaying its initial public offering until the second half of this year, likely until the fourth quarter, according to a person familiar with the matter. Last fall, Forbes reported that Chime had been targeting March 2022 to go public at a valuation between $35 billion and $45 billion. Chime has pushed back its IPO time line because it’s focusing on releasing new products, which could include lending or investing features, the person says. Its target valuation hasn’t changed. Publicly traded fintech stocks have fallen by 40% since late October 2021, with companies like Block and PayPal off 60%. Chime’s decision to delay its IPO was made before stocks started to tumble, the person claims. A Chime spokesperson didn’t respond to Forbes’ request for comment. As a digital banking service, Chime offers checking accounts with no monthly or overdraft fees and has recruited millions of customers among lower- and middle-income Americans. In August 2021, the nine-year-old San Francisco company raised US$1.1 billion in venture capital at a US$25 billion valuation. https://bit.ly/3BxualJ

SoftBank seeks US$8 billion margin loan as part of Arm IPO.

SoftBank Group Corp. is asking banks jostling for roles on a potential listing of Arm Ltd. to underwrite a margin loan of about US$8 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The margin loan financing — linked to Arm’s IPO stock — is one option under consideration as SoftBank lines up an advisory roster for what could be the year’s biggest initial public offering, the people said, asking not to be named as the details aren’t public. Banks are planning to pitch IPO valuations for Arm of upward of US$50 billion, the people said. Arm is likely worth US$25 billion to US$35 billion based on the industry’s valuation metrics and analysts’ early projections, Bloomberg reported this month. Nvidia’s collapsed attempt to buy Arm for a combination of cash and stock was worth about US$40 billion when announced in 2020 and rose to more than US$60 billion as the bidder’s shares climbed. https://bloom.bg/3v3vgVa

Circle doubles valuation to US$9 billion under new SPAC terms.

Circle, the company that issues USD Coin (USDC), one of the largest stablecoins by market capitalization, said that it has thrown out its prior deal with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) and entered into a new one that values the startup at US$9 billion. That’s double the valuation of its July agreement with the same SPAC, Concord Acquisition Corp., run by former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond. Boston-based Circle said the new valuation reflects its stronger financial outlook and heightened share of the stablecoin market. Stablecoins, or digital currencies pegged to the price of fiat currency, have surged in popularity in the past year. USDC has a market capitalization of US$52.6 billion, up sevenfold since one year ago, according to CoinMarketCap. However, stablecoins are closely being examined by regulators, who worry that most large issuers do not offer deposit insurance. Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, testified before the House Financial Services Committee in December, stating that 100% of the USDC outstanding is backed by cash or short-term government bonds that are held in reserve. Circle predominantly makes money by earning interest on cash and government bond reserves the company holds to back USDC, and on selling software to businesses to help them support blockchain transactions and services. Total revenues reached US$85 million in 2021 and are forecasted to grow fivefold this year, according to company filings. The company forecasts it will reach profitability in 2023. https://bit.ly/3H3d7sH

Sequoia seeks up to US$600 million for first dedicated crypto fund.

Sequoia Capital is raising up to US$600 million for a new fund focused on cryptocurrency startups, the firm said on Thursday. The announcement marks the firm’s first-ever sector-focused investment fund, a sign of its long-term commitment to the exploding crypto sector. Sequoia has also earmarked up to US$950 million for an “ecosystem fund,” which will provide capital to its vast network of “scouts,” or entrepreneurs and others in the Sequoia community who help the firm hunt for deals. It’s also raising up to US$3.5 billion for an “expansion fund” that will invest in late-stage companies in the U.S. and Europe. The trio of announcements comes four months after the Silicon Valley firm announced it planned to overhaul its fund structure in order to make more investments in cryptocurrencies and public stocks. Under the new arrangement, Sequoia manages one core fund, called the Sequoia Capital Fund, that holds public stock and serves as the sole limited partner for the aforementioned “sub funds.” On Thursday, a spokesperson for Sequoia said its limited partners have been “overwhelmingly” supportive of the new operating model, with 95% of eligible balances being rolled into the Sequoia Capital Fund. https://bit.ly/3BxtA7x

Virgin Galactic skyrockets 30% after announcing it will begin selling tickets for flights to space.

Shares of Virgin Galactic jumped as much as 30% after the company said it will open spaceflight ticket sales to the general public starting Wednesday.  Shares of the company were trading at US$10.59 as of 12:15 p.m. ET Tuesday.  Richard Branson’s space exploration company will sell reservations to 1,000 customers for its commercial spaceflight service set to launch later this year.  Spaceflight reservations will cost US$450,000, starting with an initial deposit of US$150,000. https://bit.ly/3gXoSX9

Resonant’s stock skyrockets on heavy volume after Murata’s buyout bid for a more than 265% premium.

Shares of Resonant Inc,  more than tripled in very active trading Tuesday, after the mobile device software company announced an agreement to be acquired by Murata Electronics North America Inc., which is a subsidiary of Japan-based Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in a deal that implies a market capitalization for Resonant of about US$295.7 million. Resonant’s stock skyrocketed 249.6% to pace all gainers, while trading volume spiked up to 10.6 million shares, compared with the full-day average of about 523,300 shares. Under terms of the deal, which was announced late Monday, Murata will pay US$4.50 in cash for each Resonant share outstanding, which was 265.9% above Monday’s closing price of $1.23. https://on.mktw.net/3HXUAPJ

EU takes on SpaceX and Amazon with its own satellite internet system.

The European Commission has approved plans for a €6 billion satellite internet system to compete with the likes of Amazon and SpaceX despite previous objections from its internal watchdog. Brussels’ initiative to provide encrypted broadband coverage was twice rejected by the European Commission’s Regulatory Scrutiny Board. The board, which vets impact assessments for proposals put forward by the commission, believed the scheme would waste money and compete with commercial services. The Secured Connectivity regulation is the brainchild of Thierry Breton, the internal market commissioner, who wants the EU to build a third satellite system in lower earth orbit (LEO) for secured communications and access to the internet. The EU already has Galileo, a global navigation system, and Copernicus, which is used for earth observation. https://on.ft.com/3s2K44t

Epic says there are now more than 500 million Epic games accounts.

Epic Games announced Wednesday that there are now more than 500 million Epic Games accounts. It’s a notable milestone as Epic continues to build the Epic Games Store as a competitor to Steam and bring in new players for titles like Fortnite and Rocket League. Epic didn’t share further details about that 500 million, however, so it’s unclear how many of those accounts represent segments like people that only play Epic’s own games (such as Fortnite) or those who have only used Epic’s store. https://bit.ly/3I5HobU

Sea’s free fire removed from Apple app store and Google Play Store in India.

Sea Ltd. lost more than US$16 billion of value in its biggest daily market drop after India abruptly banned its most popular mobile gaming title. Investors are growing concerned the ban may just be the start of the company’s troubles. Singapore-based Sea went public in 2017 and quickly became the most valuable company in Southeast Asia, based on its potential to expand its offering of gaming, e-commerce and financial services beyond its home turf. New Delhi’s decision to ban Free Fire — a lucrative title for the company — highlighted Sea’s challenges from geopolitical tensions as well as mounting competition from rivals like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Lazada. https://bloom.bg/3JEmLng

DraftKings reports fourth quarter revenue of US$473 million; increases 2022 revenue guidance to US$1.85 billion to US$2.0 billion; introduces 2022 Adjusted EBITDA guidance.

“DraftKings’ strong fourth quarter performance exceeded our expectations on the top and bottom line,” said Jason Robins, DraftKings’ co-founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. “Our excellent quarter capped off a year in which five of our states were Contribution Profit positive, further demonstrating the effectiveness of our state playbook and supporting our positive view of the industry’s TAM. We enter 2022 positioned to grow our market share, further optimize our user experience and continue to strengthen our multi-product suite of offerings.” https://bit.ly/3BvuK3c

Super Bowl ads reflect rise of cryptocurrency companies.

One thing that made this year’s Super Bowl ads different from previous years was the rise of cryptocurrency companies. Crypto.com, FTX and Coinbase all ran their commercials during the most highly coveted advertising event in the U.S. Crypto.com’s ad featured the National Basketball Association star LeBron James, while FTX’s ad featured comedian Larry David.  Coinbase ran an unusual ad showing a colorful QR code floating on a black screen. Viewers who scanned the QR code were transported to the company’s website. The traffic from the ad temporarily caused Coinbase’s app to crash. The big-ticket ads are part of the firms’ efforts to reach the majority of Americans who still haven’t invested in cryptocurrencies. According to a survey released in November from Pew Research Center, 16% of Americans have invested in, traded or used cryptocurrencies. https://bit.ly/34TrkLR

Google follows Apple with proposal to curb how Android users are tracked.

Google is creating new privacy rules for its Android smartphone operating system to curb how users are tracked for advertising purposes, the company said Wednesday, following the path Apple forged with its App Tracking Transparency rules. Google provided few details of how its policy will work, but said it plans to consult with developers and the ad industry, stressing the difference between its comment-seeking approach and Apple’s more blunt approach to enacting rules. It said it will support the use of Google’s advertising ID, the identifier used today for ad purposes, for at least two years and plans to release a test version of its new systems later this year. The proposal is similar to Google’s ongoing work to phase out web trackers called third party cookies within its Chrome browser for advertising purposes. Proposals as part of that process, which is now overseen by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority, have drawn criticism from privacy advocates and the ad industry, prompting Google to revise its approach over the last two years. https://bit.ly/3JVP01d

Amazon reaches deal to continue accepting Visa payments worldwide.

Amazon and Visa have resolved their simmering dispute over payment fees in the UK and elsewhere, Reuters has reported. “We’ve recently reached a global agreement with Visa that allows all customers to continue using their Visa credit cards in our stores,” a spokesperson told Reuters. Amazon threatened to stop accepting Visa in the UK starting January 19th, citing the high fees it charges for credit card transactions. The rest of Europe wasn’t impacted as the EU has a cap on card issuer fees, but both Mastercard and Visa card issuers jacked fees in the UK following Brexit. UK regulators recently announced that they’d investigate those increases. https://tcrn.ch/3BxqVus

Crypto lender BlockFi to pay US$100 million in settlement with SEC, states.

BlockFi Inc. is poised to pay US$100 million to settle allegations from the Securities and Exchange Commission and state regulators that it illegally offered a product that pays customers high interest rates to lend out their digital tokens, according to people familiar with the matter. The penalties, which could be announced as soon as next week, are among the toughest levied on a cryptocurrency firm amid a U.S. clampdown on the industry. The SEC and state investigators have been probing whether the accounts offered by BlockFi are akin to securities that should be registered with regulators. Scrutiny has been mounting on crypto-lenders, which have attracted tens of billions of dollars in deposits by promising yields that far exceed those available through traditional savings accounts. As part of its agreement with regulators, BlockFi will no longer be able to open new interest-yielding accounts for most Americans, the people said. “We have been in productive ongoing dialogue with regulators at the federal and state level. We do not comment on market rumors,” said BlockFi spokesperson Madelyn McHugh. “We can confirm that clients’ assets are safeguarded on the BlockFi platform and BlockFi Interest Account clients will continue to earn crypto interest as they always have.” An SEC spokesperson declined to comment. https://bloom.bg/3H0MRiz

The SEC is reportedly probing trading affiliates of Binance’s US arm, with focus on firms with ties to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into the relationship between the US arm of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and two trading firms with ties to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.  Sigma Chain AG and Merit Peak Ltd. act as market makers that trade cryptocurrencies on the Binance.US exchange. One area of the investigation’s focus is how Binance.US disclosed to customers its links to the trading firms, the report said, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.  Market makers bolster liquidity and can add stability through constantly buying and selling assets. They profit from the small difference between the bid and offer price. https://bit.ly/3H0jMEe

Criminal whales hold over US$25 billion in cryptocurrency from multitude of illicit sources.

One positive development in the last year has been law enforcement’s growing ability to seize cryptocurrency from criminals. We saw several examples of this in 2021, and, more recently, in February 2022, the DOJ seized US$3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin connected to the 2016 hack of Bitfinex, in what is currently the largest ever recovery of stolen assets in either cryptocurrency or fiat. These cases also raise an important question: How much cryptocurrency is currently held by known criminal entities on the blockchain, and could therefore theoretically be seized by law enforcement? https://bit.ly/3BvkZly

Biden seen issuing crypto oversight exec order next week.

President Biden is expected to issue an executive order next week directing agencies across the government to study cryptocurrencies and a central bank digital currency (CBDC), and come up with a government-wide strategy to regulate digital assets. https://yhoo.it/3JCkh9c

Super Bowl ads boosted crypto app downloads by 279%, led by Coinbase.

Those Super Bowl ad spots paid off for a number of tech companies not just in terms of exposure, but also app installs, a new report indicates. But Coinbase’s viral ad — which just bounced a QR code around on a black screen like the old DVD screensaver — outperformed the group, with installs jumping 309% week-over-week after the ad’s airing Super Bowl Sunday, February 13, and it continued to climb by another 286% the following day. https://tcrn.ch/3BwQpYK

Crypto exchange Coinbase is forced to throttle traffic after its viral QR-code Super Bowl ad briefly crashes its website.

Crypto exchange Coinbase said its services were up and running again, after it was forced to throttle traffic to its website thanks to a viral Super Bowl ad spot on Sunday. Coinbase released a 60-second commercial during Super Bowl LVI, which featured a QR code bouncing around like a retro screensaver. If users activated the code, it took them to a page on the exchange’s website offering $15 in free bitcoin if they set up an account. Yet Coinbase, a publicly listed crypto exchange, said that it had to limit traffic after the ad drove a huge amount of visitors to its site. “@coinbase just saw more traffic than we’ve ever encountered, but our teams pulled together and only had to throttle traffic for a few minutes,” the company’s chief product officer, Surojit Chatterjee, said on Twitter on Sunday evening. “We are now back and ready for you.” https://bit.ly/3oSUQYZ

Universal Music to develop collectible NFTs in deal with Curio platform.

Universal Music Group has struck a partnership with NFT platform Curio to develop non-fungible token (NFT) collections for its record labels and artists, the companies said on Thursday. The deal is a major move into a potentially new revenue stream by the world’s largest music company, which, like its rivals, depends heavily on streaming music for its financial survival. https://reut.rs/3LMC67p

Global chip sales hit record in 2021, will grow 8.8% in 2022 -SIA.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) on Monday said that global chip sales hit a record in 2021 at US$555.9 billion, up 26.2% on the year, and it forecast 8.8% growth for 2022 as chip makers continue to build up production capacity to meet demand. “It’s still really trending very strongly towards increased demand. We’re just not going to get this kind of slingshot effect that we had in the pandemic,” said SIA CEO John Neuffer of the much slower growth projected for 2022. Sales in 2020 grew 6.8% over the prior year, while 2021 was the first year since 2018 that the number of chips sold exceeded 1 trillion, he said. https://reut.rs/3LMs1az

Construction of TSMC’s U.S. chip plant delayed by labor crunch, COVID.

Construction of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s first advanced chip plant in the U.S. is three to six months behind schedule, sources told Nikkei Asia, a sign that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker is finding it more challenging to expand overseas than at home. TSMC initially planned to start moving in chip production equipment by around September this year, but the company has told suppliers that this will be pushed back to around February or March of 2023, several people with knowledge of the matter told Nikkei Asia. The deferral was mainly due to labor shortage and the on-and-off surge of COVID-19 infections in the U.S., the people said. Complicated processes for obtaining the different types of licenses needed for construction was another factor, they said. The U.S. plant is TSMC’s most advanced chip facility outside its home market. The project was announced in May 2020, and construction started last June. https://s.nikkei.com/34RMVnY

Ford Mustang Mach-E usurps Tesla Model 3 as Consumer Reports top EV pick of the year.

Consumer Reports is swapping the Tesla Model 3 for the Ford Mustang Mach-E as its new top electric vehicle pick for 2022. The designation is sure to give Ford a morale boost as it seeks to outpace Tesla in the race to become the number one EV manufacturer in the US. Tesla has long dominated CR’s EV rankings, with the Model 3 holding the position for the past two years. But the publication says a variety of factors, including ride quality, reliability, and the in-car user experiences, have led it to crown a new winner in the Mustang Mach-E. https://bit.ly/3JEBZc8