Welcome to the Tech Weekly, NEO’s regular news monitoring of key developments in the food and mobility tech industries.
This week’s highlights:
E-mobility app Marti may become the first Turkish firm to go public in New York through a merger with a blank check company. With an enterprise value of $532 million, the firm, formerly known as Marti Ileri Teknoloji AS, has ambitious plans to grow its valuation tenfold. Marti, which provides users with access to e-scooters and e-bikes, is benefiting from a boom in taxi hailing apps, which attracted a total $2.83 billion in investment in 2021. (Bloomberg)
Train passengers can now place food delivery orders on WhatsApp and get food delivered to their seats. Jio Platforms, owned by Haptik , has tied up with Zoop India to make it easier for rail passengers to order and deliver food on train trips. Although only launched a month ago, the service is active in 250 cities on various intercity rail routes across India. (The Economic Times)
Walmart is considering plans for a platform that uses social media influencers to help the retailer and its 100,000 third-party merchants promote their products and services online. (Reuters)
Ford Motor Co. announced this week that it will cut some 3,000 jobs to boost profits as it seeks to raise the $50 billion it plans to spend on electric cars. The cuts will take place mostly in the US, while some positions are also being eliminated in Canada and India, a company spokesman said. A total of 2,000 salaried workers are expected to be made redundant, along with 1,000 contract workers. (Bloomberg)
Plug Power, which supplies fuel cells for electric forklifts used by Amazon, said the retail giant plans to buy thousands of tons of carbon-free green hydrogen a year from it in a deal that also includes an option to buy a stake of up to $2.1 billion. (Forbes)
