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West Conshy’s EnerTech sells high-def U.S. map maker Ushr to Japan’s DMP, creating a powerhouse consortium focused on self-driving

In selling Ushr Inc, EnerTech, the West Conshohocken-based investment fund, is joining up two leading self-driving mapping firms in the U.S. and Japan. which will likely create the standard.

EnerTech Capital was founded in suburban Philly but mostly invests elsewhere in North America
EnerTech Capital was founded in suburban Philly but mostly invests elsewhere in North AmericaRead moreEnerTech

Lead investor EnerTech Capital, a $500 million (invested) venture-capital firm based in West Conshohocken, and other backers including General Motors,have agreed to sell Ushr Inc., which makes autonomous-driving software and high-definition mapping technology for GM, to Dynamic Map Platform Co. Ltd., a supplier of map tech backed by Honda, Toyota and other Japan-based automakers. The price was not immediately disclosed.

The deal will enable Dynamic Map to " establish a single, enhanced platform for accelerated development and delivery of HD mapping solutions for autonomous vehicles and advanced driver-assistance systems," Dynamic Map said in a statement.

Based in Detroit and headed by former Oracle executive Bruce Gordon, Ushr was set up in 2017 as a spin-off from GeoDigital, an EnerTech-backed software company that specializes in geospatial mapping.

Ushr HD mapping is used in GM’s Super CruiseTM built into 2018 Cadillac CT6 sedans. According to EnerTech, “when combined with vehicles equipped with sensors and software enabling autonomous driving, Ushr’s HD maps allow self-driving cars to safely operate on mapped roadways.”

Scott Ungerer, the Princeton graduate who founded EnerTech Capital in 1996, predicted “growth for the combined businesses."

Like many of EnerTech’s investments, GeoDigital is based in Canada. Other EnerTech-backed companies include Tangent Energy, a Kennett Square company that makes distributed energy-management systems for industry, in partnership with Cummins, the engine and generator maker; Blue Pillar, the Maryland-based building energy management systems developer; and NanoSteel, a Providence, R.I. “superlight” steel maker that supplies auto and rail companies.

EnerTech has raised four funds so far, the last for $120 million, in 2013.