Oxidos Automotive, the local start-up that develops an operating system for microprocessors in cars, has attracted an investment of approximately one million euros from 42dot, a Hyundai Motor Group company specializing in autonomous driving technologies, at a post-investment valuation of approximately 13 million euros, according to data published by the company. Specifically, 42dot subscribed 1,042 new shares in Oxidos Automotive for the total amount of 5,091,628.8 lei, the equivalent of 1,000,320 euros at a conventional exchange rate of 5.09 lei per euro, of which 104.2 lei represents the nominal value and 5,091,524.6 lei the issue premium. «The AGM hereby approves the increase of the company’s share capital by the amount of 104.2 RON (…), from 1,250 RON to 1,354.2 RON, through the issuance by the company of a number of 1,042 new shares with a nominal value of 0.1 RON each», the decision states. The investment was regulated by a subscription and associates agreement concluded on October 1, 2025 between 42dot, Oxidos Automotive and the 11 existing associates, who waived their pre-emption rights in connection with the subscription of the new shares.
42dot Inc. is a South Korean company, part of the Hyundai Motor Group, specialized in the development of software platforms for autonomous vehicles and software-defined vehicles (SDV). The company was founded in 2019 by Chang-Hyeon Song, a former Apple executive and founder of Naver Labs, and was acquired by Hyundai in 2022 for about $330 million, according to TechCrunch. Song resigned as CEO of 42dot in December 2025, according to The Korea Herald. The Korean company has between 500 and 1,000 employees, according to LinkedIn. Richard Stephen Chelminski, an American citizen and senior vice president at 42dot with previous experience at CARIAD (Volkswagen), Ford and Rivian, according to LinkedIn, was nominated by the Korean company to the board of directors of Oxidos Automotive. You may also be interested: With the investment, the management structure of Oxidos Automotive has changed. The four previous administrators – Ioana-Maria Culic-Radovici, Daniel Rosner, Alexandru Radovici and Bogdan-Dumitru-Ionuţ Genis – were revoked, and in their place a three-member board of directors was appointed, with a four-year mandate until November 2029: Alexandru Radovici, nominated by the founders, Daniel Rosner, nominated by Early Game Ventures, and Richard Stephen Chelminski, nominated by 42dot. Following the investment, the largest associate remains Alexandru Radovici, with 29.54% of the share capital, followed by Bogdan-Dumitru-Ionuţ Genis with 18.46%, Ioana-Maria Culic-Radovici with 14.77%, Early Game Ventures Fund I with 14.24%, Daniel Rosner with 11.08% and 42dot with 7.70%. Five other minority partners – Mălin-Iulian Ştefănescu, Marius-Adrian Istrate, Ana-Cosima Rughiniş, RCB Investors and Alexandru-Leonard Leca – hold 0.77% each, and Marian Dinu holds 0.38%. OxidOS is developing an operating system based on the Rust programming language for microprocessors in cars that control critical functions such as brakes, engine or lighting systems. The start-up promises to halve the software development time for these components compared to traditional solutions based on the C language. Alexandru Radovici, CEO and co-founder, is a professor at the Politehnica University of Bucharest. «What we are trying to do is to change the automotive sector in the same way that in 1995 (…) Sun Microsystems did it with the banking sector for Java», said Radovici at ZF IT Generation. In 2022, the start-up attracted a first round of seed funding of 1.2 million euros, led by Early Game Ventures, together with a group of business angels. The 42dot investment thus represents the company’s second round of financing.
Oxidos Automotive reported in 2024 a net turnover of 1.3 million lei and a net profit of 137,159 lei, compared to a turnover of 588,560 lei and a net loss of 217,843 lei in 2023, according to data from the Ministry of Finance. The company had an average number of 15 employees in 2024, compared to 9 in the previous year.Follow the OxidOS story at ZF IT Generation here
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