NUTS & BOLTS 12.23.24
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THE NUTS AND BOLTS
As we wrap up 2024, we’re grateful for a banner 12 months advancing digital industrial innovation. This year, we closed a $100M Fund II, welcomed five new companies (FleetPulse, Reshape Automation, Wilya, Base Power, stealth) to our portfolio (now totaling 20 companies), and made eight follow on investments. For our team, 2024 was about doubling down on our core approach to early stage investing in manufacturing, construction, transport & logistics, and alternative energy, accelerating the growth of our portfolio companies through our expertise and network as a sector focused fund, and strengthening our brand through strategic content and connections.
We want to express sincere gratitude to all of the partners with whom we work to explore new solutions in heavy industrial industries. As technological and geopolitical forces continue to shift how the industrial supply chain operates, we remain committed (and fired up!) to invest in and support the next generation of category defining companies in this space. And we feel incredibly fortunate to do this work surrounded by a world class community of builders.
This was a milestone year for us with the closing of Fund II, and we’re full speed ahead in 2025!
Keep reading for the latest digital industrial news.
THE HEAVY HITTERS
🏭 Preparing for the Future in Manufacturing
More mobile robots are on the way, as a new report forecasts shipments of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) will grow nearly 25% through the end of the decade, rising from 547,000 units in 2023 to 2.8 million by 2030. Mobile robots are most commonly used within warehousing and logistics, but are becoming increasingly popular in manufacturing, last-mile delivery, agriculture, and healthcare given their functionality across a range of applications from cleaning to security.
Amazon is a great example of these robots in action, as it just opened its most-automated warehouse yet, the company’s first to use automation and artificial intelligence at every step of the fulfillment process (just in time for the holiday season). This 3-million square foot high tech facility in Louisiana employs more than 1,400 people (on the way up to 2,500), evidence that there is still a significant need for human labor even in the midst of a sea of robots.
And warehouses are busy these days, as in addition to the peak holiday season, U.S. manufacturers are stockpiling imported parts and raw materials in anticipation of new tariffs next year under the incoming Trump administration. In a survey of 27,000 businesses, buying activity in November hit its highest level in more than a year.
In addition to procuring goods, companies are also buying more software that aids in scenario planning for both short and long term cycles.
In another sign of the times, and a newsworthy example of manufacturing scaling up domestically, pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced a $3B expansion of a Wisconsin manufacturing facility that it acquired earlier this year. The investment will add 750 highly skilled jobs (on top of the 100 already working there) and represents the company’s single largest U.S. manufacturing investment outside of Indiana, home to its HQ.
🚧 New Approaches and "Show Me the Money" in the Built World
President-elect Trump promised to speed the approval of big construction projects for companies that invest more than $1B in the US, saying that those who make such commitments “will receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to, all Environmental approvals.” Quicker permitting could be especially helpful to clean-energy projects which often face long approval processes for transmission projects, such as power lines that distribute electricity.
Aligned with spurring domestic growth, Trump and SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son jointly announced that SoftBank will invest at least $100B in U.S. projects over the next four years, creating 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.
In a year end IPO pop, ServiceTitan went public, pricing its shares at $71 (above the expected range) and raising about $625M, with shares climbing 42% in the company’s first day on the Nasdaq. Many are hoping this strong outcome will signal more IPO activity heading into 2025.
ServiceTitan serves businesses in plumbing, landscaping, electrical, and other trades with software for managing sales leads, recording calls, generating quotes, and scheduling jobs. As of earlier this year, the company had about 8,000 customers with more than $10,000 in annualized billings.
And on the M&A side, global water treatment leader Pentair announced it acquired for US-based G&F Manufacturing for approximately $108M. G&F Manufacturing manufactures and services heat pumps for pools and will enable Pentair to expand its pool equipment offerings in the Southeast while aligning with “sustainability trends for pool equipment.”
Global water powerhouse Xylem also announced it acquired a majority stake in Idrica, a company focused on water data management and analytics, to form Xylem Vue. The combined platform integrates Xylem’s existing digital water solutions portfolio with Idrica’s technology platform to equip water utilities to address their biggest challenges (including water scarcity and aging infrastructure).
In a novel approach to generate the energy it needs to power its rapidly growing fleet of data centers (while meeting its clean energy goals), Google announced a first-of-its-kind partnership to build $20B in renewable-energy and energy-storage assets by 2030 that will be co-located with data centers.
Google’s partners in this effort are TPG Rise Climate, the climate investment arm of TPG, and Intersect Power, an energy developer that has raised more than $1B in equity and $5B in project finance to connect gigawatts of solar, wind, and battery power directly to formidable new electricity loads (including data centers).
And Google is not alone in its data center construction ambition - Meta unveiled plans for its largest data center to date (the company’s 27th), a massive $10B four million square foot facility in Louisiana (and requiring 5,000 workers to build during peak construction). Meta has promised the data center will run on 100% renewable energy and will add 1,500 megawatts of new renewable energy to the local grid.
🚚 Full Speed Ahead in Transport & Logistics Consolidation
Freight data and insights behemoth DAT acquired the operations of Trucker Tools, a commercial trucking platform providing load visibility and automated booking, among other carrier engagement tools (for an undisclosed amount). The deal expands DAT’s ability to provide real-time GPS tracking and load optimization on its DAT One platform, the industry’s largest marketplace for spot truckload freight with more than 668,000 loads posted daily. Overall, the combined company will “streamline the way freight brokers, carriers, and shippers do business.”
Triumph Financial, a provider of financial and technology products for the transportation industry, announced that it acquired supply chain performance management platform ISO (for an undisclosed amount). Triumph’s tools help smaller carriers to improve cash flow and aggregate purchase power in addition to enabling brokers to fight fraud, reduce costs, and streamline payments, and ISO’s offering complements these capabilities by providing shippers and transportation providers with aggregated performance data to uncover inefficiencies, reduce costs, and optimize business decisions.
Global logistics powerhouse DHL is now moving goods with self-driving trucks between Dallas and Houston (more amazing industrial innovation in Texas!) through a new partnership with Volvo Autonomous Solutions, with plans to add autonomous routes between Fort Worth and El Paso in the near future. Using AV trucks is just the latest tech milestone for DHL, which has been a leading innovator by leveraging warehouse automation and wearables for its workers.
Santa has some speedy competition to get gifts under the tree as parcel delivery speeds improved last month 27% year over year, according to a project44 report. In November, average delivery time (from order placement to arrival) – was 3.7 days, compared to 4.1 days in 2023, getting delivery performance in the holiday season “off to the strongest start since (before) Covid-19.”
Faster delivery is attributed to better inventory planning and warehouse optimization (accelerating picking and packing speeds), and once packages are shipped, carriers’ transit times are lower than in past years due to more efficient routes.
Ironspring portfolio company OneRail has been an industry leader in last mile delivery through its powerful platform that connects shippers to carrier solutions and is poised to play an outsized role in this increasingly important space (to businesses and consumers alike) after the recent close of its $42M Series C funding round.
⚡Exciting Advances in Alternative Energy
Retailers are finding that EV chargers are good for business, as those who offered chargers within 200 meters of the store saw a 4% increase in monthly visits and a 5% increase in spending compared to pre-charger installation. While chargers can be expensive to install, the investment may be worth it to boost sales and help the US to build the one million public chargers it will need by 2030 (many more than the 200,000 we have today) to keep up with EV sales. Walmart is one retailer leading the way, with plans to have thousands of EV chargers at its stores across the country by 2030 (up from 280 today), spending $1M-$1.5M at each site.
GM may be shutting down Cruise, but it is not backing away from innovation, having recently launched a new partnership between its EV unit and utility company Reliant that will offer free charging for Chevrolet EV drivers in Texas. Called the “Reliant Free Charge Nights plan”, the collaboration will offer a monthly bill credit to Chevrolet EV owners who sign up for the program and charge their vehicles between 11 pm and 6 am and will utilize 100% renewable energy as Reliant will purchase energy certificates equal to the amount of an EV customer’s electricity usage. In addition to reducing consumers’ energy costs, the program will incentivize nighttime charging that offsets electricity demand during peak daytime charging hours, a priority in Texas as the state faces population growth and increasing demand on its power grid.
In addition to reducing consumers’ energy costs, the program will incentivize nighttime charging that offsets electricity demand during peak daytime charging hours, a priority in Texas as the state faces population growth and increasing demand on its power grid.
2024 will go down as a breakout year for solar as the industry is on track to break installation records and achieve significant manufacturing milestones. Fueled by tax credits granted through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), domestic solar module manufacturing capacity has nearly quintupled since 2022, with the US adding a record-breaking 9.3 gigawatts of new solar module production capacity in Q3 2024 alone.
This year also saw solar cell manufacturing return to the U.S., with Suniva restarting production at a Georgia factory. Most solar cells are made in China, making this a notable move.
Recent data forecast the U.S. will deploy a total of 40.5 gigawatts of solar power this year (led by Texas and Florida), with annual volumes projected to reach at least 43 gigawatts through 2029.
Overall, the U.S. energy storage market saw record growth in the third quarter of this year, with 3,806 megawatts worth of installations and 9,931 megawatt-hours added, according to a new American Clean Power Association report, up 80% and 58% respectively year over year. Texas (adding nearly 1.7 GW) and California (adding about 6GWh) rose to the top in new grid-scale energy storage deployments.
And in order to bring any of this to fruition, don’t sleep on the associated transmission infrastructure that will be required to be built out and/or updated to accommodate. The Energy Department predicts the U.S. will need to double or triple transmission capacity through 2050 in order to meet demand growth and reliability needs.
FROM OUR TEAM
On the latest episodes of Heavy Hitters: The Digital Industrial Podcast, catch co-founder and General Partner Ty Findley in conversation with Upfront Ventures Partner Nick Kim on the development of his firm’s national infrastructure and hard tech focus areas, resurgence of Southern California as a industrial powerhouse, and key role of human workers as industrial automation advances and his chat with Oracle Senior Director Josh Kanner on the evolution of built world innovation over the past 20 years, real world impact of AI across a construction project's lifecycle, and M&A lessons learned in contech.
THE DEALS AND M&A
Deals
Amp Robotics, a Louisville, Colo., developer of trash-sorting robots and recycling facilities, raised $91M in Series D funding. Congruent Ventures led and was joined by Liberty Mutual Investments CalSTRS and insiders Sequoia Capital, XN, Blue Earth Capital, Wellington Management, Range Ventures, and Tao Capital Partners.
Spexi, a Canadian drone pilot network for earth imaging, raised US$11.5M in Series A funding led by Blockchange Ventures.
Nscale, a Norwegian AI hyperscaler, raised $155M in Series A funding. Sandton Capital Partners led and was joined by Kestrel, Bluesky Asset Management, and Florence Capital.
Pixxel, an LA-based developer of a hyperspectral satellite constellation, raised $24M in Series B extension funding that includes new investors M&G Catalyst and Glade Brook Capital Partners.
Zimi, a cross-border commerce startup, raised $2M in seed funding led by Fearless Fund, with YC participating.
Prima, a Mexican manufacturing and supply chain integrator, raised $23M in Series A funding from Acrew, Nazca, and Quona Capital.
Raptor Maps, a Boston developer of solar farm monitoring software, raised $35M. Maverix Private Equity led and was joined by MacKinnon, Bennett & Co., Blue Bear Capital, Congruent Ventures, Buoyant Ventures, and YC.
WeaveGrid, an SF-based EV charging software provider, raised $28M. Toyota's Woven Capital led and was joined by insiders Activate Capital, Collab Fund, Emerson Collective, and Salesforce Ventures.
Albert Invent, an Oakland-based AI platform for the chemicals sector, raised $22.5M in Series A funding led by Coatue.
Molten Salt Solutions, a Santa Fe-based developer of nuclear materials, raised $3M in seed funding from Future Ventures and True Ventures.
Crusoe, an SF-based AI data center provider, raised $600M in Series D funding. Founders Fund led and was joined by Fidelity, Long Journey Ventures, Mubadala, NVIDIA, Ribbit Capital, and Valor Equity Partners.
Terradot, a Stanford, Calif., carbon removal startup, raised $58.2M in seed and Series A funding from Google, Microsoft, John Doerr, George Roberts, Sheryl Sandberg, Floodgate, Kleiner Perkins, Acre Venture Partners, Gigascale Capital, Valor Capital, and Ponderosa Ventures.
Concentro, a New York-based green energy financing startup, raised $3M in seed funding. Firstminute Capital led and was joined by Silence VC, LifeX, Plug & Play, Avesta Fund, J Ventures, Contour Venture Partners, and Dorm Room Fund.
Electrified Thermal Solutions, a Boston developer of electrified heating and thermal energy storage, raised $19M from Holcim MAQER Ventures, Vale Ventures, TechEnergy Ventures, EDP Ventures, Tupras Ventures, GVP Climate, Clean Energy Ventures, Starlight Ventures, Mass Ventures, and Clean Energy Venture Group.
Haber, an industrial AI startup, raised $38M in Series C equity funding (plus $6M in debt) from Creaegis, Beenext, and Accel.
Nanoramic, a Boston-based battery materials startup, raised $44M. General Motors Ventures and Catalus Capital co-led and were joined by Samsung Venture Investment, Top Material, Fortistar Capital, and WindSail Capital Group.
Mantis Robotics, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based developer of physical AI for robotic automation, raised $5M. Emerald Technology Ventures led and was joined by Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund.
Slip Robotics, a Norcross, Ga., maker of truck-loading robots, raised $28M in Series B funding. DCVC led and was joined by insiders Eve Atlas, Tech Square Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Overline, and Pathbreaker Ventures.
Starboard, a Toronto-based developer of virtual infrastructure for global trade, raised US$5.5M. Eclipse led and was joined by Garuda Ventures and Everywhere Ventures.
Loadar, a U.K. freight procurement and management startup, raised $4M in seed funding. Frontline Ventures led and was joined by Techstart Ventures.
Leap Financial, a cross-border payments startup, raised $3.5M in seed funding led by Fuel VC.
Hauler Hero, a San Diego-based tech platform for waste management companies, raised $10M in seed funding from I2BF Global Ventures, K5 Global, Somersault Ventures, and Recall Capital.
Mojave Energy Systems, a Sunnyvale, Calif., provider of energy-efficient HVAC tech, raised $9.5M in Series A funding co-led by insiders Fifth Wall and At One Ventures.
M&A, IPOs, & Fundraising
RWE, a German energy giant, launched a sale process for its €2B minority stake in grid operator Amprion.
Davidson Kempner and Nature Infrastructure Capital acquired the Dutch solar and storage project development platform of Germany's Greencells.
Dow (NYSE: DOW) agreed to sell a 40% stake in select U.S. Gulf Coast infrastructure assets to Macquarie Asset Management for around $2.4B.
Novolex, a Hartsville, S.C.-based packaging firm owned by Apollo Global Management and CPP Investments, agreed to buy Pactiv Evergreen (Nasdaq: PTVE) for $6.7B in cash, or $18 per share.
Platinum Equity invested in Global the Source, a master distributor of HVAC/R components, with will be merged with existing Platinum portfolio company MARS.
Flowco, a Houston-based provider of oil and gas well equipment and services, filed for an IPO that Renaissance Capital estimates could raise $300M. Owners are Genesis Park and White Deer Energy.
Trive Capital is weighing a sale of IPO for Karman Space & Defense, a Huntington Beach, Calif.-based maker of aerospace systems that could fetch between $400M-$500M.
Mets Logistics, a Philippine cold storage provider, raised around $121M from Singapore's Growtheum Capital Partners.
Intersect Power, a Houston-based renewables firm, raised more than $800M from backers like Google and TPG Rise Climate.
Nexus W2V, a Greenville, S.C.-based waste-to-fuels developer, raised $140M. Orion Infrastructure Capital led and was joined by Nexus Holdings, Khasma Capital, Sterling Bank, and Ameris Bank.
Archer Aviation (NYSE: AHCR) raised $430M from Wellington Management, 2PointZero, and insiders Stellantis and United Airlines. It also launched a new defense program, in partnership with Anduril.
Trucks Venture Capital raised $70M for its third transportation-focused fund.
Iberdrola (Madris: IBE) is seeking to sell its smart metering unit, which could fetch the Spanish utility around $1.27B.
Humba Ventures raised $40M for its second deep-tech and defense-tech fund.
Stonepeak agreed to buy Forgital, an Italian maker of forged components for the aerospace sector, from Carlyle.
G2 Venture Partners, which focuses on sustainability, is raising up to $750M for its third fund, per an SEC filing.
FIS (NYSE: FIS) agreed to buy Demica, a London-based provider of supply chain financing, for around $300M.
Honeywell (Nasdaq: HON) said it's considering a spinoff of its aerospace business, amid pressure from activist investor Elliott.
Thyssenkrupp said that it's again seeking bids for its naval shipbuilding unit, which could fetch around $1.5B, after Carlyle walked away from deal talks.
THE JOBS
FleetPulse - Software Engineer
OneRail - Strategic Growth Partner
Plus One Robotics - Senior Software Developer
There are 110+ open roles on our jobs site. Check these out!
With my experience with fuel cells, hydrogen fueling, and in automated manufacturing, you would benefit from having me as an advisor.