Il y a deux semaines, Sidewalk Labs décidait d'abandonner son projet à Toronto (ici). Ceux qui voyaient dans cette décision la fin des ambitions urbaines d'Alphabet/Google risquent de déchanter : la nouvelle "spin-off" créée par le groupe mi-2019, "Sidewalk Labs Infrastructure Partners" (SIP) vient en effet de lever 400 millions de dollars pour investir dans des infrastructures américaines : ici. Cette structure a été créée par Sidewalk Labs et le Fonds de pension des enseignants de l'Ontario (Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan).

Extrait de leur site internet :

SIP is an independent holding company that aims to transform infrastructure by harnessing the power of technology. We were formed by Alphabet, Google’s parent company and a world leader in technology; Sidewalk Labs, Alphabet’s pathbreaking “smart cities” innovator; and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, one of the world’s most respected institutional investors in infrastructure. Every transaction we undertake benefits from these entities’ deep reservoir of expertise in tech, capital, infrastructure, and urban innovation.

We take a hybrid approach to our acquisitions and portfolio. We seek to develop or acquire and hold large-scale infrastructure projects, typically with a commitment of $100 million or more; but that’s only one prong of our approach. We also seek to create or acquire certain technology that goes into developing those projects (often in a way that’s founder-friendly and minimizes equity dilution). That allows us to help entrepreneurs develop new technologies at the same time that we help back the major infrastructure projects that scale those technologies. As those companies grow, we can marshal additional capital and expertise.

Rather than chase a specific deal or project, we apply our hybrid approach to big, complicated, sector-wide infrastructure problems. We start with first principles, convening experts across sectors — technologists, investors, policymakers, academics — so we can attack the challenge from all perspectives before we deploy capital on solutions.

Sometimes that means challenging the conventional way of doing things. And it always means thinking about how we can use technology to transform infrastructure.

 

Plus que jamais, la ville des "plates-formes" et la "ville des infrastructures", que nous évoquions notamment dans notre article "Financer la ville à l'heure de la révolution numérique", paru dans la revue Esprit (en lien avec notre étude sur les nouveaux modèles économiques urbains, avec Partie Prenante et Espelia), s'enchevêtrent. A suivre...

(Images ci-dessus extraites du site internet www.sidewalkinfra.com)