I was covering the traditional auto industry when I first met Mike Granoff of Maniv Mobility, and looking back I realize that he was the person who introduced me to the way of thinking about cars and mobility that has grown into my obsession with “mobility technology.” At the time Mike was working on one of the most far-sighted (though ultimately ill-fated) companies in the space, Project Better Place, which showed me how dramatically cars could be reimagined. It also made me obsessed with battery swap technology, which is what ultimately sucked me into a multi-year Tesla obsession that produced my upcoming book.
Today Mike’s unique ability to envision better ways of getting around has made him one of the top investors in what we now call mobility tech. His fund, Maniv Mobiliity, is among the most well-connected and most-respected in the sector, and serves as an advance scout for many other investors in the space. On this week’s Merge Now, Mike reflects on his early efforts to rethink mobility and how they evolved into a venture capital powerhouse that just closed a $100 million fund dedicated to investing in the future of mobility.