10.02.23

Hello from Ironspring Ventures! Thanks for checking out our biweekly newsletter where we've carefully curated the latest and greatest from the digital industrial ecosystem.

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THE NUTS & BOLTS

Congrats to portfolio company Harbinger on closing its Series A funding round! Ironspring Ventures is proud to continue to support this incredible team advancing innovative electrified mobility solutions to transform medium-duty commercial and specialty vehicles. The new funds will accelerate progress toward the production of the company’s electric stripped chassis and enable Harbinger to double its workforce at its new headquarters in Garden Grove, CA.?

Also participating in the round are a premier group of co-investors dedicated to sustainability through mobility innovation including THOR Industries, Ridgeline, The Coca-Cola System Sustainability Fund managed by Greycroft, and Tiger Global, among others.

Also kudos to Document Crunch on its new partnership with Procore! Announced at Procore’s Groundbreak Conference in Chicago, this collaboration will automate contract compliance and mitigate risks for project teams across the construction industry by enabling Document Crunch customers to embed contract insights and project playbook tools directly into Procore’s digital workspace.?

“We aspire to build a bridge from the back office right to the field to facilitate transparency, collaboration, and awareness around these complex contract issues,” said?CEO and Co-Founder Josh Levy.?“Our latest collaboration with Procore is a natural progression to realize this vision.”

Keep reading for the latest digital industrial news.

THE HEAVY HITTERS

?? Construction Speed Bumps

• Construction?materials prices are rising for the first time in six?months, driven by higher fuel costs (diesel up 35% in August)?amidst labor shortages, higher interest rates, and stricter lending policies.
• Despite headwinds,?factory projects continue to buoy construction starts, with manufacturing starts up 285% MoM in August, though residential and nonbuilding starts dropped;?industrial real estate is thriving as well. Offices may be cool, but warehouse space is hot.
• Construction is a laggard industry when it comes to digital innovation;?interoperability of data ecosystems will be key in driving innovation in the space, according to our friends at Trimble.
• Current building codes are?based on outdated guidelines and data, making both old and new buildings susceptible to natural disasters in a changing environment.
• An example of expanding digital capabilities and centralizing data,?Procore recently purchased Unearth for undisclosed terms, bringing?underground mapping capabilities onto its platform.

?? EV Ups and Downs

• The EV manufacturing rollout is?not without its challenges: three?mega projects in the US have been stalled by labor challenges and permitting issues. Battery plants require special technical labor that is hard to come by, holding up these multi-billion dollar projects; the TSMC project in particular is set to be a $40B plant.
• Ford has?paused construction on a $3.5B Michigan battery plant after drawing political criticism for working with and using technology from Chinese battery giant CATL. The plant was expected to create 2,500 jobs.
• Electric trucks are making strides, running cargo on US highways and producing data on the economics of electric trucks, getting further and further fully loaded. Current models available are already suitable for medium regional and return-to-base routes.
• Trucks in California ports purchased after Jan 1, 2024 must be zero-emission, causing a?run on diesel trucks in the state, as purchasers look to delay a switch.
• Aiming to make EVs even more economical, Ford Honda, and BMW?teamed up to form ChargeScape, a vehicle-to-grid company. It will create a platform for EV owners to sell power back to the grid.

?? Logistics Looking Different

Business models and consumer tastes have changed when it comes to shipping, meaning?shippers must diversify their carrier base, OneRail CEO Bill Catania tells FreightWaves.

· Meanwhile, the biggest carriers continue to get bigger:?UPS recently acquired MNX to strengthen its healthcare logistics services

• Ironspring is proud to share portfolio companies OneRail and GoodShip were named to?FreightWaves' FreightTech 100 list for 2024, particularly noteworthy?in a?challenging FreightTech environment:

· Soaring shipping costs, in part due to rising interest rates and labor costs, are resulting in the likes of p44 and other FreightTech startups that are more dependent on freight volume to perform layoffs and rethink their strategies

• For fulfilling orders,?warehouse tech will need more investment: robotics used for order fulfillment hold lots of promise if they can only get a good internet connection.
• Using Amazon's logistics is a major tenet of the?case the FTC has brought against the company, accusing it of running an online-marketplace monopoly. The supply chain powerhouse pushed sellers to use their logistics in order to be a part of Prime.

?? Maddening Manufacturing

• US manufacturing labor is feeling a real squeeze: it's struggling to keep pace with other advanced manufacturing companies. US manufacturing productivity has scarcely grown the last decade and a half as the country has focused on design and innovation while other countries have surged ahead in manufacturing. Now auto workers are on strike, but the major auto makers are struggling to keep up. From 2012 to 2022 automotive manufacturing productivity plummeted 32%.
• How are American manufacturers trying to close this gap? It varies: through building capabilities internally, inorganic growth, innovation, and partnerships.

· Apple, as a case study,?recently attempted to manufacture a part of its iPhones itself to break its binds with supplier Qualcomm, whom they pay $7-8B annually for the chip. After several years and billions spent on manufacturing their own, the Apple-made chip did not make it in the recent iPhone release, and Apple is still dependent upon Qualcomm.

·?Still, productivity wouldn't advance if big tech firms didn't try new things.?Tesla is experimenting with a new manufacturing technique, a die-cast?process to cut the cost of producing its vehicles it is calling "gigacasting."

·?Some manufacturers look to organic growth?for new capabilities, others try for inorganic;?Stratasys terminated its purchase of Desktop Metal after shareholders rejected the deal. Earlier this month, 3D Systems submitted a bid for Stratasys. It's a manufacturer eat manufacturer world.

• Another way to look for innovation and productivity in manufacturing? Partnerships. Trimble announce its joint venture with AGCO to better serve farmers in the mixed fleet precision agriculture market.

FROM OUR TEAM

It’s definitely conference season for Team Ironspring! In recent weeks, you could find us at Climate Week in NYC, The Digital Factory in Boston, BuiltWorlds Americas Summit in Chicago, Seattle Tech Week, INDUSTRY hosted by Fontinalis Partners in Detroit, Venture Houston, Trimble Transportation’s Insight Tech Conference in Las Vegas, Coolwater Capital’s Fall Summit in NYC, and MOVE America in our own backyard here in Austin. October is shaping up to be just as exciting, and we look forward to seeing many of you at key industry events across the country.

On Heavy Hitters: The Digital Industrial Podcast, Co-Founder & General Partner Ty Findley speaks with Ryan Kelly, Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) San Francisco Tech Lab General Manager, and Marianne Wu, Venture Partner at Congruent Ventures.?

Catch both must listen episodes? here!?

THE DEALS AND?M&A

Deals

• Verkor,?a French EV battery builder, raised €850M?in Series C funding from backers like Macquarie, Meridiam, and Renault. The company also secured €600M?in loans from the European Investment Bank.
• Dragos, a Hanover, Md.-based cybersecurity startup focused on industrial controls, raised $74M?in Series D extension funding led by WestCap (prior close was $200M?on a $1.7B?valuation, led by Koch Disruptive Technologies).
• Evolectric, a Long Beach, Calif.-based EV tech company, raised $15M?from Seismic Capital.
• Mojave Energy Systems, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based developer of energy-efficient air conditioning products, raised $12.5M. At One Ventures and Fifth Wall co-led?and were joined by Xerox Ventures.
• Neara, an Australian energy infrastructure modeling platform, raised US$10M?in Series B extension funding from Prosus Ventures and insiders Skip Capital and Square Peg Capital.
• Yotta Energy, an Austin, Texas-based provider of rooftop solar battery systems, raised $8M?in Series A funding led by Evergy Ventures.
• UnitX, a San Jose, Calif.-based developer of AI vision systems for manufacturing robotics, raised $5M?from SE Ventures.
• Rayon, a French collaborative design tool for architecture, engineering, and construction, raised €4M?in seed funding Northzone and Foundamental co-led?and were joined by Seedcamp.
• Openvolt, an Irish developer of an API for energy data, raised €1.5M?in pre-seed funding. Cavalry Ventures led?and was joined by übermorgen Ventures.

M&A, IPOs, & Fundraising

• CES Power, a Memphis-based portfolio company of Allied Industrial Partners, acquired Euro Touring Power, an Irish provider of transformers, cables, distribution boxes, and stage air conditioning to large shows and events.
• Lindsay Goldberg acquired Kleinfelder, a San Diego-based engineering and construction management firm, from Wind Point Partners.
• Redwood Materials, the?VC-backed battery recycler led by J.B. Straubel, acquired Germany-based Redux Recycling.
• DKV Mobility, a German fleet services firm owned by CVC Capital Partners, plans to launch its Frankfurt IPO next week.

THE JOB POSTINGS

Copia - Senior Product Designer

Handle - Sales Operations Manager

Solvento - Head of Legal, Financial Analyst, UI/UX Designer

Stable - Data Scientist

There are 90+ open roles on our jobs site. Check these out!Thanks for making it to the end! We'd love to hear from you at [email protected].