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Fluid Truck Share vehicle.

Source: Fluid Truck

A decade after the ridesharing explosion, a start-up based near Denver is betting that there is an untapped market for those looking to share utility vehicles in a market dominated by Penske and Ryder.

Fluid Truck, which launched in 2019, raised $ 63 million in its first external donation round.

“Most small and medium-sized businesses find it so difficult to rent trucks that they are forced to buy or lease vehicles,” said James Eberhard, Founder and CEO of Fluid Trucks. “Our platform allows them to quickly access and book a vehicle, as quickly as you can book an Uber. It allows them to bend up and down to really meet their every need.”

A truck can be seen outside the U-Haul facility as the city resumes Phase 4 of its reopening after restrictions were imposed in New York City on August 31, 2020 to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

John Lamparski | Getty Images

Fluid Truck is entering a niche market that has long been dominated by companies ranging from U-Haul to Ryder to Enterprise Rent-A-Car. All are companies that specialize in renting out vans or box trucks to consumers and small businesses. Eberhard believes the process is slow and cumbersome. Small business owners will be interested in an app and service to deliver a commercial vehicle at short notice.

“It takes a few minutes and you can do it 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he said.

Fluid Truck’s business plan makes sense on paper. The challenge is to attract business owners who have made up their minds for years to establish players like Penske Truck Rentals. Penske has a fleet of more than 50,000 vehicles, ten times the size of Fluid Truck’s current fleet.

As Fluid Truck wants to expand, it will capitalize on its relationship with Ikea. The furniture chain’s investment arm is one of several companies supporting Series A funding. In a statement announcing his company’s investment, Krister Mattsson, Managing Director of Ingka Investments said, “This is another step in enabling IKEA Retail to offer our customers last mile delivery services, further enhancing our customer promise and at the same time to protect our environment. ” Footprint.”

While Eberhart could envision that Fluid Trucks could one day be part of a fleet of vehicles that could support Ikea customers, the focus right now is on expanding business operations to the current space of more than 25 stores.

“The complexity of running and managing a fleet is one of the biggest issues that most companies don’t want to deal with,” said Eberhart. “We can make it easy through our platform.”

– CNBC’s Meghan Reeder contributed to this report.

Here are the top news, trends, and analysis investors need to get their trading day started:

1. Stocks will fall after the S&P 500’s best day since June

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange

Source: NYSE

2. Goal: Kohl’s quarterly results exceeded the estimates

A person wearing a protective mask walks past a Target Corp. store on Thursday, February 11, 2021. in the Grossmont Center Mall in La Mesa, California, USA.

Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Tuesday’s target beat Wall Street’s expectations for the fourth quarter thanks to a strong Christmas season and stimulus checks. Still, Target declined to provide a forecast for the coming year, as the pandemic made it too difficult to predict consumer patterns. Target reported adjusted quarterly earnings of $ 2.67 per share on revenue of $ 28.34 billion, up 21% year over year. Stocks were little changed.

A view outside of a Kohls store in Miramar, Florida.

Johnny Louis | Getty Images

Kohl’s shares rose nearly 2% in premarket trading after the department store chain posted adjusted earnings of $ 2.22 per share in the fourth quarter on Tuesday, more than double the estimate. Revenue of $ 5.88 billion, down 10% year over year, was slightly above expectations. Kohl’s said it sees sales growth in 2021.

3. Zoom Video stocks rise after profit, sales skyrocket

Zoom founder Eric Yuan speaks prior to the Nasdaq opening ceremony on April 18, 2019 in New York City.

I have Betancur | Getty Images

Zoom Video Communications’ shares rose 8% on the Tuesday prior to going public, the morning after the company reported adjusted earnings of $ 1.22 per share for the fourth quarter, pushing estimates down 43 cents. Revenue rose 369% year over year to $ 882.5 million, beating forecasts. Zoom, which was all the rage during Covid, issued an optimistic forecast for the current quarter, expecting millions of people and businesses to continue using its video calling platform.

4. Senate Democrats are working on their version of the Covid Relief Act

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks on the second day of Trump’s second impeachment trial in Washington on February 10, 2021 with reporters in the Senate reception room.

Brandon Bell | Pool | Reuters

Democrats’ hopes of including a federal minimum wage hike in their $ 1.9 trillion covid relief bill appeared nearly dead four days after the impartial Senate MP declared the Chamber’s rules outlawed theirs Admission. Senate Democrats hope to unveil their version of the House-approved package and begin the debate as early as Wednesday. Congressional leaders want to send the measure to President Joe Biden by March 14, when a federal unemployment benefit increase approved under the December relief measure expires.

5. Senator Elizabeth Warren introduces a wealth tax

Democratic Presidential Candidates Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (R) chat ahead of the tenth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign, hosted by CBS News and the Black Caucus Institute of Congress at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, South Carolina, will host on February 25, 2020.

Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

Senator Elizabeth Warren has revived the idea of ​​a wealth tax that was central to her failed bid to become the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. Senator Bernie Sanders, who also ran unsuccessfully as president for a wealth tax last year, is one of the co-sponsors of the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act. The bill, tabled on Monday, provides for a 2% annual wealth tax between $ 50 million and $ 1 billion and an annual wealth tax of 3% over $ 1 billion.

– The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow all developments on Wall Street in real time with CNBC Pro’s live market blog. Find out about the latest pandemics on our coronavirus blog.

A medical worker holds a syringe with the Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik V) Covid-19 vaccine in his hand.

Alexander Reka | TASS | Getty Images

While the European Union struggles to push coronavirus vaccine rollout in the block of 27, Russia’s Covid shot is proving enticing to its friends in Eastern Europe, creating yet another potential rift in the region.

The Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia have all expressed an interest in the procurement and use of the Russian vaccine “Sputnik V”, which could undermine an EU-wide approach to the approval and administration of coronavirus vaccines.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Sunday that his country could use the Sputnik V vaccine without the approval of the EU Medicines Agency, the European Medicines Agency.

It comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz received a call last Friday in which they discussed “possible deliveries of the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine to Austria and its possible joint production,” the Kremlin said and found that Austria had initiated the call. Austria has so far stated that it would not bypass the EMA when approving the vaccine.

Hungary, a country within the EU that has close ties to Brussels and whose leader Viktor Orban is considered a close ally of Putin, has shown no such hesitation. It was the first European country to bypass the EMA to approve and purchase the Sputnik V vaccine in January.

According to the Moscow Times, the country expects 2 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine to be administered over the next three months. Hungary also approved China’s Sinopharm vaccine last month, which again goes against the grain when it comes to EU vaccine approval.

On Monday, Slovakia became the second European country to announce that it had purchased the Sputnik V vaccine, which secured 2 million doses of the shot. However, the Slovak Minister of Health said it will not be given immediately as it still needs the green light from the country’s national drug regulator.

A Slovak Army plane carrying doses of the Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus (Covid-19) stands on the tarmac when it arrives from Moscow at Kosice International Airport, Slovakia, on March 1, 2021.

PETER LAZAR | AFP | Getty Images

What’s happening?

The linchpin for the Russian vaccine is widespread frustration with the slow adoption of EU vaccines. The bloc’s decision to jointly buy vaccines has hampered it, and its orders came later than in other countries, including the UK and US

Manufacturing problems and bureaucracy – and hesitation in some countries about vaccines – were also stumbling blocks to adoption.

Nonetheless, the move by some Eastern European countries to unilaterally support Russia’s vaccine will exacerbate problems in Brussels as it undermines the EU’s desire for a unified approach and a sense of equity in the distribution of vaccines.

There were also concerns specifically about Sputnik V, although subsequent data have confirmed the vaccine’s effectiveness and credibility.

The vaccine was approved by the Russian health authority in August last year, ahead of the completion of clinical trials, causing skepticism among experts that it may not meet strict safety and efficacy standards. Some experts argued that the Kremlin is keen to win the race to develop a Covid vaccine.

However, an interim analysis of the Phase 3 clinical trials with 20 participants published in The Lancet in early February found the vaccine to be 91.6% effective against symptomatic Covid-19 infections.

In a companion article in the Lancet, Ian Jones, Professor of Virology at the University of Reading, England noted that “the development of the Sputnik V vaccine has been criticized for undue urgency. However, the result reported here is clear and scientific. The principle of vaccination is demonstrated which means another vaccine can now join the fight to reduce the incidence of Covid-19. “

However, the Gamaleya National Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, which developed the vaccine, has not yet submitted an application to the EMA for marketing authorization for the vaccine, the EU Medicines Agency said in early February.

A woman receives the second component of the Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik V) COVID-19 vaccine.

Valentin Sprinchak | TASS | Getty Images

RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund that backed the development of Sputnik V, announced to CNBC on Monday that it had requested the EU Drugs Agency for an ongoing vaccine review in mid-February. However, the EMA has not confirmed this and CNBC has asked the EMA for a comment.

Political theater

The European Commission already warned Hungary, albeit indirectly, against the use of the Russian vaccine before the EMA approved it. As early as November, a spokesman for the Commission told Reuters: “The question is whether a Member State would like to give its citizens a vaccine that has not been tested by the EMA.” Public confidence in vaccination could be damaged.

“This is where the approval process and confidence in vaccines meet. When our citizens start questioning the safety of a vaccine, it will be much more difficult to get a sufficient proportion of vaccines if it has not undergone rigorous scientific evaluation. to demonstrate its safety and effectiveness to the population, “said the spokesman, reported Reuters.

However, the decision of Hungary to proceed alone with the vaccine against Sputnik V does not surprise the EU observers. The country’s right-wing leader, Viktor Orban – a “strong man” like Russia’s Putin – has had several disputes with the EU executive in recent years, particularly over signs of the government’s increasing authoritarianism. The erosion of the independence of the judiciary and freedom of the press in Hungary is of particular concern to the EU. However, the Hungarian government rejects such criticism.

Gustav Gressel, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told CNBC on Monday that Hungary’s actions were “part of Orban’s campaign to promote a” decadent, declining EU “and the future of Hungary in the east with Russia and China.” said it had been going on for some time.

Daragh McDowell, head of Europe and chief analyst for Russia at Verisk Maplecroft, described the geopolitics surrounding Sputnik V and the EU as “political theater more than anything”.

“For Hungary and Austria there is an element of foreign policy signaling here, as both Kurz and Orban generally had a closer relationship with Putin than their European counterparts. In the case of the Czech Republic, the impetus seems to have been more towards the government “Take action” in the face of a rapid surge in the number of cases in February, “he said.

There are also doubts as to whether Russia will be able to mass-produce and ship its Sputnik V vaccine to Europe.

“While the Sputnik vaccine appears to be an effective vaccine in principle, Russia is having great difficulty getting mass production right … enough Sputnik vaccine is still not being made,” Gressel said. McDowell noted that “the question is whether Sputnik V can make a noticeable difference, given regulatory issues and existing logistical issues, and whether the vaccine can be made in sufficient numbers either by Russian manufacturers or under license.”

An ES6 electric SUV from Nio Inc. at a battery swap station in a parking lot in Shanghai on March 1, 2021.

Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images

BEIJING – Chinese electric car startup Nio said Tuesday a global chip shortage will force it to manufacture fewer cars in the second quarter.

The high demand for electronics amid the coronavirus pandemic and the pressure of US-China trade tensions on the highly specialized semiconductor supply chain have contributed to a backlog in chip manufacturing.

As a result, large automakers had to reduce production, with Nio from China announcing such reductions at the latest.

The company had increased production capacity to 10,000 vehicles per month in February, an increase from 7,500 previously, founder William Li said in a quarterly earnings call on Tuesday. However, a shortage of chips and batteries means Nio will have to fall back to the 7,500 level in the second quarter, he said.

Nio predicts strong deliveries

Despite competition from Tesla, Nio stayed ahead of its start-up competitors in vehicle sales.

The company delivered 7,225 vehicles in January and 5,578 vehicles in February during the weeklong New Year holiday. With a forecast of 20,000 to 25,000 deliveries in the first quarter, Nio assumes that deliveries in March will increase to at least 7,197 vehicles.

In contrast, Xpeng announced Tuesday that 2,223 electric cars were shipped last month, while Li Auto expects fewer than 4,000 cars per month to be shipped in the first quarter.

Nio founder Li said pre-orders for the et7 sedan released in January exceeded those of the company’s other models but refused to disclose certain numbers. The et7 is Nio’s first non-SUV consumer car and is scheduled to begin deliveries next year.

Li added the company stayed on track to enter Europe later that year.

Nio’s shares, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, fell 4% in trading for extended periods after a fourth quarter earnings loss of 0.93 yuan (14 cents) per share was reported. That is more than the analysts’ forecast loss of 0.39 yuan per share, according to FactSet.

The company attributed a quarterly increase in net losses of nearly 33% to 1.39 billion yuan ($ 212.8 million) for the final three months of 2020, mainly due to the depreciation of the US dollar.

Nio shares rose more than 1,000% last year after the troubled start-up received around $ 1 billion in capital injection from government-backed investors and traders piled into the stock alongside a surge in Tesla shares.

For the future, Nio expects total sales of 7.38 billion yuan to 7.56 billion yuan in the first quarter after 6.64 billion yuan in the fourth quarter.