How F1 Data Analysis Shaped the New Race Car
The Intersection of Technology and Formula One Racing
Greetings! This week’s edition of The TechCrunch Exchange focuses on startups and market trends. We’ll cover funding rounds and startup market data, but we’ll begin with an exploration of the growing relationship between technology and Formula One racing.
Technology's Increasing Presence in F1
Throughout the year, we’ve observed increasing investment from technology companies into the world of Formula One. Sponsorships from companies like Splunk, Webex, Microsoft, Zoom, and Oracle are becoming commonplace, supporting teams, races, and the league itself.
Amazon, through its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform, is a particularly notable partner. AWS provides the on-screen graphics for broadcasts, and its data analysis, such as tire wear predictions, is considered both valuable and timely by fans.
AWS's Role in the 2022 Car Design
However, Amazon’s involvement extends far beyond surface-level partnerships. AWS played a crucial role in the design process of Formula One’s new 2022 car, a fact that was previously less understood.
Addressing Aerodynamic Challenges
The distinctive, swoopy design of the 2022 car is a direct result of specific aerodynamic objectives. A key goal was to minimize “dirty air,” the turbulent airflow created by a leading car that negatively impacts the performance of following vehicles.
Current Formula One cars generate significant dirty air, hindering close racing as drivers must maintain distance to avoid losing downforce – the force that keeps cars grounded. The new design aimed to rectify this issue.
Computational Fluid Dynamics and AWS
Achieving this required extensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling. AWS provided the necessary computing power to facilitate this complex process. The racing organization collaborated with Amazon to meet these substantial computational demands.
Insights from Rob Smedley
We spoke with Rob Smedley, F1’s Director of Data Systems, via Amazon Chime, to learn more about this collaboration. The project began in 2018, with F1 utilizing its internal expertise alongside Amazon’s thousands of processing cores.
Smedley explained that, using the computing resources typically available to individual F1 teams, modeling two cars driving in formation would take four days per cycle.
Accelerated Simulations with AWS
However, with access to 2,500 compute cores from Amazon, the same simulations could be completed in just six to eight hours. This acceleration allowed for more iterations and a more refined car design.
At peak times, the team even utilized around 7,500 cores, running simulations on over a dozen iterations simultaneously, with each run taking approximately 30 hours to complete.
A Deeper Tech Integration
This demonstrates that technology’s influence in Formula One extends beyond financial support. It’s deeply embedded in the core engineering and design processes. As an enthusiast, it’s exciting to witness this intersection of passions and professional work.
Now, let’s return to our regular coverage of startup funding and market trends.
A New Unicorn Emerges in the Midwest
M1 Finance consistently appears in my reporting. This is largely due to its frequent fundraising announcements and the release of updated performance data. This week, the company secured $150 million in funding, resulting in a valuation of $1.45 billion.
The latest investment round for this consumer fintech superapp was spearheaded by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2.
The significance of M1 Finance lies in its transparency regarding revenue growth. The company has openly shared how its revenue is tracked over time.
During initial coverage, the CEO indicated a goal of generating revenue equivalent to 1% of its total assets under management (AUM). Consequently, we can estimate the company’s revenue growth by monitoring the rate at which AUM increases.
M1 Finance regularly publishes its AUM figures, a practice that is highly appreciated by journalists. Providing longitudinal data is an excellent strategy for maintaining media interest.
Here’s a timeline of M1’s AUM growth:
- June 2020: $1.45 billion.
- October 2020: $2 billion.
- March 2021: $3.5 billion.
- July 2021: $4.5 billion.
Applying the 1% revenue target, these figures translate to projected annual revenues of $14.5 million, $20 million, $35 million, and $45 million, respectively. Essentially, the company has seen its revenues triple since June of the previous year.
This substantial growth is attractive to investors, explaining the current funding round and M1’s newly achieved unicorn status.
Truveta: Recent Developments
Truveta was previously discussed when the company initially revealed its objectives. Terry Myerson, a former executive at Microsoft, is a key member of the team. Given my prior experience covering Microsoft, I closely followed the startup’s initial progress.
As a refresher, Truveta aims to gather substantial amounts of data from healthcare organizations, ensuring patient privacy through anonymization, and then compiling this information to offer it to external parties for research purposes.
This week, the company announced the formation of new collaborations and secured $95 million in funding. This represents a significant financial investment.
Furthermore, Truveta has expanded its network to include 17 partner health systems.
The core ambition of consolidating a larger volume of data within a single platform is to contribute to improvements and greater fairness within the healthcare sector.
With substantial funding now secured, the company is well-positioned to pursue these goals. It will be interesting to observe the outcomes of their efforts.
Key Objectives and Partnerships
Truveta is focused on aggregating healthcare data to facilitate medical research. The company’s approach involves collecting data from numerous providers.
A crucial aspect of their process is the anonymization of patient information, protecting individual privacy while enabling valuable research.
The recent funding round provides the resources needed to expand their data collection and research capabilities.
Here’s a summary of their current standing:
- Funding: $95 million
- Partner Health Systems: 17
These partnerships are instrumental in achieving the company’s vision of a more data-driven and equitable healthcare system.
Future Implications
The increased availability of anonymized healthcare data has the potential to accelerate medical breakthroughs. Researchers will have access to a broader dataset for analysis.
This could lead to the development of more effective treatments and improved patient outcomes. Truveta’s role is to provide the infrastructure and data necessary for this progress.
The company’s success will depend on its ability to maintain data quality and ensure ongoing compliance with privacy regulations.
Additional Notable Developments
In the interest of conciseness and adhering to editorial guidelines at TechCrunch [editorial note: adjustments made], the following important information, not covered in previous reports, is presented.
Cambridge Savings Bank (CSB) Enters the Fintech Arena: Recall Goldman Sachs’ launch of Marcus, a digital banking service geared towards individual consumers. CSB is pursuing a similar strategy. They have developed and introduced Ivy, a bank prioritizing a digital-first approach. This concept is appealing: leveraging an established bank with a proven track record and traditional infrastructure, while simultaneously creating a more contemporary, adjacent service. This may prove more effective than attempting to retrofit an older institution with new technologies. Furthermore, increased adoption of this model by banks could potentially diminish the competitive advantage of neobanks.
Code-X Secures $5 Million, Demonstrating Transparency in Valuation: Code-X, a Florida-based company specializing in a “lattice-based data protection platform,” has successfully raised capital, resulting in a company valuation of $40 million. While the specifics of a “lattice-based data protection platform” remain unclear, Code-X’s decision to publicly disclose its valuation during an early-stage funding round is commendable.
Insights from DocSend Data: DocSend, a document-sharing platform, recently released data that warrants consideration. The key takeaway is as follows:
This disparity is noteworthy! Demand has exceeded supply. This succinctly illustrates the current market dynamics.
Our analysis of venture capital activity in Q2 has been ongoing for several weeks, yet a concise summary was lacking. The question of why startup valuations are increasing, and why startups are securing funding more rapidly, is answered by the fact that investor demand significantly surpasses the available supply of venture-backed companies.
A concise summary of the year 2021.
A Positive Note: You are valued and appreciated!
Next week’s report will focus on two SPACs centered around battery technology – Evonix and SES. There is considerable discussion to be had regarding advancements in battery technology, energy density, and the future of numerous sectors, including finance.
Sincerely,
— Alex
