NUTS & BOLTS 01.13.25

?

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

???Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here.?

???Want more news and updates? Follow us on LinkedIn.

???Comments? Questions? Interesting startups? Connect with us here.

THE NUTS & BOLTS

Welcome to 2025! To kick off the year, we're sharing our predictions for the year ahead in digital industrial innovation. Check out what our team (and our portfolio company CEOs) see coming in the next 12 months across manufacturing, construction, transport & logistics, and alternative energy.?

Keep reading for the latest digital industrial news.

THE HEAVY HITTERS

???All In on Automation and Alignment in Manufacturing?

• At CES last week, NVIDIA announced many bold initiatives including “Mega,” an Omniverse Blueprint for developing, testing, and optimizing physical AI and robot fleets at scale in a digital twin before deployment into real-world facilities. As automated systems working alongside human workers proliferate, implementing these complex sets of sensors and autonomous robots will require more sophisticated simulation and training to optimize operations, ensure safety, and avoid disruptions. NVIDIA is introducing Mega to offer the advanced tech needed to bring software-defined capabilities to physical facilities, enabling continuous development, testing, optimization, and deployment.?
• NVIDIA is clearly bullish on the future of robotics, seeing a “technological tipping point” as AI has accelerated and refined the process of simulating the physical world and generating the vast amounts of data needed to train robots. Over the next two decades, NVIDIA forecasts the market for humanoid robots alone is expected to reach $38B.?
• Greater automation will be greatly needed across manufacturing, because as the nearshoring movement continues apace, companies are increasingly sourcing more of their parts and products from the US, and this is causing a labor crunch, with many US manufacturers say they are challenged to find the skilled workers they need to produce domestically. Unlike the transportation and warehousing industries which have largely recovered from covid-era worker shortages, manufacturers still struggle to fill positions, and for most of 2024, the gap between manufacturing job openings and hirings was ~100,000 positions each month.?
• Nearshoring is not a passing fad, with 73% of U.S.-based executives saying their companies have brought or are bringing back more of their supply chains to the Americas because of geopolitical and economic uncertainty, according to a 2024 KPMG study.???
• The worker shortage is exacerbated by an aging manufacturing workforce and a younger generation that is less interested in manufacturing careers (which often require long shifts and less flexibility).??
• Zebra Technologies is an example of a company making moves to advance in automation and robotics, as it recently announced it acquired Photoneo, a provider of 3D vision and AI-powered robotics (and maker of the Brightpick line of warehouse robotics) for an undisclosed amount. The companies said proceeds of the sale will be reinvested to accelerate Brightpick’s expansion across the U.S. and Europe, and following the acquisition, Photoneo will be renamed Brightpick (and operate as a separate entity).??
• Zebra believes the deal will also enable it to grow its presence in the 3D segment of the machine vision market, the fastest growing part of that sector.?

???No Slowing Down in Construction

• At the start of 2025, manufacturing construction continues to boom in the US, with construction spending in the sector reaching just over $236M in October 2024, up 16.6% year over year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Government programs (including the CHIPS and Science Act and Inflation Reduction Act) are propelling much of this building activity,?with notable companies including Tesla, Samsung, and Hyundai all investing billions in mega construction projects across the country to build semiconductor and clean vehicle factories.?
• In the latest data center development headline, President-elect Trump announced that Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani (founder of the property development powerhouse DAMAC Properties) will invest $20B in new data centers across the US. The data centers will primarily support AI and cloud technologies, and eight states have been tagged for the first phase of the multi-year investment. Details are still to be determined, however, the tech community will likely cheer the news that the incoming administration is supporting major infrastructure to meet rapidly growing data center demand.?
• And to potentially power these data centers, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, one of the largest private fusion companies in the country, announced it would build the world’s first grid-scale commercial fusion power plant in Virginia. Plans are still in the works for the multibillion-dollar project, however, the new plant is expected to create hundreds of jobs during construction and long-term operation. When complete, the plant will generate about 400 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 150,000 homes.?

????Navigating and Negotiating in Transport & Logistics

• NVIDIA made more news at CES with the announcement that it will partner with Aurora and Continental to accelerate the deployment of autonomous trucks at scale. Core to the collaboration is the integration of NVIDIA’s Drive Thor system-on-a-chip into Aurora’s autonomous driving system, making NVIDIA the primary computer of the Aurora platform.??
• Drive Thor is specifically designed to handle the complex inference tasks critical for AVs to perceive and navigate safely.??
• Look for this tech on the roads in the not too distant future - production samples of Drive Thor are expected to be available in?the first half of this year, with Continental and Aurora targeting to manufacture self-driving hardware at scale in 2027.?
• Despite (tons of) tariff talk, logistics operators remain bullish on nearshoring and continue to make significant investments in warehouses and infrastructure along the U.S.-Mexico border. XPO, Schneider, Prologis, and Kuehne + Nagel are all examples of major companies doubling down on their commitments in the region, playing the long game that localizing production is not a transient trend, even if tariffs disrupt trade activity in the short term.??
• One of the most notable investments (and biggest bets on the future of US-Mexico manufacturing and trade) is the $31B merger that created the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), the only freight railroad directly connecting Mexico, the US, and Canada through a 20,000-mile network.?
• The Mexican government is also all in on building up its infrastructure to support the increased economic activity, planning to invest $2.7B to expand the Port of Manzanillo, doubling its capacity to 10 million containers annually by 2030.??
• Freight activity in New York City may adjust routes and operations as last week saw the start of congestion pricing in the city, with heavy duty trucks now required to pay $21.60 to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street during core working hours, seven days a week (costs will be lower overnight). About 120,000 trucks and commercial vehicles enter Manhattan every day, and the new fee adds to the cost of serving NYC, which already includes costly bridge tolls, pricey insurance, and high wages (on top of steep?parking tickets and idling penalties, which drivers are frequently subject to in the crowded urban environment).?
• New York’s congestion pricing plan is the first of its kind in the nation, with other cities (including San Francisco and Los Angeles) closely watching how the new program plays out. The goals are to reduce traffic and raise funds for mass transit improvements.?
• Dockworkers and their employers reached a tentative agreement ahead of the January 15 deadline. While details were not disclosed, a joint statement said the deal “protects current ILA jobs and establishes a framework for implementing technologies that will create more jobs while modernizing East and Gulf Coast ports,” indicating that the two sides were able to find alignment around adopting greater automation at the ports (which had been a major sticking point). Port employers and shippers had said they agreed to a significant wage increase (62%) for workers last year with the understanding that the union would work toward a contract that allowed for more automation in port operations.?
• A deal is a huge relief to many stakeholders across the shipping and logistics industries, as had a deal failed to be reached, another strike would have caused a big hit to the nation's economy (as much as $7.5B a week).?

?Excitement Around Electricity in Alternative Energy

• As we’ve given ink to in previous Nuts & Bolts, Texas is emerging as a hot spot for energy innovation, and Justin Lopas, co-founder and COO of Ironspring Ventures portfolio company Base Power, digs in on many of the key factors that make Texas such an attractive place for new approaches to energy in his thoughtful piece, “Texas is Leading America’s Electrical Revolution.” In “creating a regulatory environment that encourages innovation, maintaining an independent & flexible electrical grid, and allowing market forces to drive technological development,” Texas has fostered the conditions for energy innovation to flourish, writes Lopas.?
• ·Don’t sleep on Texas - the state added more grid-scale solar and battery storage capacity than any other in 2024 and is fast approaching California in total capacity deployed.?
• ·?????? Though government support for EVs is uncertain under a new administration, there is no sign auto companies and battery makers are changing course on their production plans, particularly in the “Battery Belt,” a collection of battery plants stretching from Georgia to Michigan. In recent years, EV battery production has attracted ~$133B in capital (to create more than 109,000 American jobs), with federal tax credits designed to build an EV battery supply chain in the US helping to fund much of this investment.??
• Ford, Honda, BMW, and Toyota all continue to invest billions in EV production in the US, bolstered by this government support.?
• Batteries are the most expensive component in an EV, and today, federal subsidies reduce the cost of making batteries domestically by about $4,000 per vehicle. Expect major changes across the automotive supply chain if government support for EV batteries is reduced or eliminated.??
• ·But hydrogen is encountering headwinds, with hydrogen fuel cell tech maker Hyzon Motors shutting down after failing to get its cash burn under control at the same time the company faced fundraising challenges. Hyzon executives said the company lacked liquidity to support operations beyond another 12 months (without raising capital) and had no choice but to liquidate and dissolve.?

FROM OUR TEAM

Heavy Hitters: The Digital Industrial Podcast?episode 100 (!) is on the way soon, but while you wait, catch up on great conversations you might have missed including recent interviews with Josh Kanner of Oracle, Nick Kim of Upfront Ventures, Sivan Zamir of Xylem, and Craig Fuller of FreightWaves. Check out all 99 Heavy Hitters chats here!?

THE DEALS AND?M&A

Deals

• Verde Clean Fuels, a Houston-based?provider of low-carbon fuels, raised $50M?from Diamondback Energy's Cottonmouth Ventures.
• Boon, a developer of agentic AI tools for fleets, raised $20.5M?in seed and Series A funding from Marathon?and Redpoint Ventures.
• Sunairio, a?provider of weather and climate modeling software for grid reliability, raised $6.2M. Buoyant Ventures?led?and was joined by Constellation Technology Ventures and MassMutual Ventures.
• Buildpeer, a Mexican construction management platform, raised $2.5M?in seed funding led by Brick & Mortar Ventures.
• KoBold?Metals, a Berkeley, Calif.-based EV battery mineral exploration company, raised $537M?in Series C funding at a $2.96B?post-money valuation co-led by Durable Capital Partners?and insider T. Rowe Price.?
• ·StruxHub, an SF-based construction operations platform, raised $4M?in seed funding. Brick and Mortar Ventures?led?and was joined by FJ Labs and Holcim.
• Phoenix Tailings, a Burlington, Mass., developer of rare earths from mining waste, raised $43.8M?in Series B funding from BMW i Ventures, Yamaha, Envisioning Partners, MPower, and Escape Velocity.
• RoboForce, a developer of humanoid robot workers, raised $10M?from backers like Myron Scholes, Gary Rieschel, and Carnegie Mellon University.?
• Tangible, a maker of carbon emissions software for the construction market, raised $3M?co-led by Prologis Ventures?and Pi Labs.
• Karman Industries, a Long Beach, Calif.-based manufacturing electrification startup, raised $7.5M?from Wonder Ventures, 8090 Industries, and insiders Riot Ventures and Space VC.
• Alta?Resource, a Neenah, Wis., startup harvesting rare earths from e-waste, raised $5.1M?in seed funding. DCVC?and Voyager Ventures?co-led?and were joined by Orion Industrial Ventures, Overture, and WovenEarth Ventures.
• XOcean, an Irish?provider of ocean data for offshore energy companies and governments, raised €115M?from S2G, Climate Investment, Morgan Stanley's 1GT fund, and CC Industries.
• Parsyl, a Denver-based supply chain insurer, raised $20M?Series C funding. The Lightsmith Group?led and was joined by insiders HSCM Ventures, GLP Capital Partners, Lineage Ventures, and FirstTracks Ventures.

M&A, IPOs, & Fundraising

• Cerberus Capital Management?acquired Landmark Structures, a Ft. Worth, Texas-based?provider of water storage solutions, from Graycliff Partners.
• Halifax Group?acquired Q-mation, a Horsham, Pa.-based?provider of industrial automation software and hardware.
• One Equity Partners?acquired a majority stake in Comau, an Italian industrial automation and robotics company that had been owned by Stellantis?(which retains a minority position).
• Nippon Steel?(Tokyo: 5401) delayed the closing date for its?proposed?$14.9B?purchase?of U.S. Steel?(NYSE: X), as it waits to learn if President Biden will block the deal on national security grounds.
• Waste Eliminator, a Georgia-based portfolio company of Allied Industrial Partners, acquired Enterprise?Landfill and?Phillips Recoveries,?providers of construction and demolition and industrial waste landfill/hauling.
• NewHold Investment III, an industrial tech SPAC, filed for a $175M?IPO.
• Digital Edge, a Singapore-based data center company owned by Stonepeak, raised $640M?in new equity funding and $1B?in debt financing.
• Apollo?and BC Partners?agreed to buy the environmental services business of waste management firm GFL Environmental?(NYSE: GFL) at an C$8B?enterprise value, with GFL retaining a $1.7B?equity interest.
• Berkshire Partners?invested in Electric Power Engineers, an Austin, Texas-based energy and power systems engineering and consulting firm.
• Clarios?International, a Milwaukee maker of low-voltage vehicle batteries, withdrew its IPO registration. The company was acquired in 2019 for $13.2B?by Brookfield Asset Management and Caisse de dép?t et placement du Québec.
• Flowco, a Houston-based?provider of oil and gas well equipment and services, set IPO terms to 17.8M?shares at $21-$23 per share. It plans to list on the NYSE (FLOC)?and reports $58M?of net income on $349M?in revenue for the first nine months of 2024. Owners are Genesis Park?and White Deer Energy.
• EQT?agreed to buy distributed energy and microgrid developer Scale Microgrids?from Warburg Pincus.
• SoftBank?and majority-owned chip designer Arm?(Nasdaq: ARM) are considering a takeover bid for Ampere Computing, a Santa Clara, Calif., chipmaker that's raised $340M?from Oracle.?
• Ares Management?raised $1.3B?for its second climate infrastructure fund, per an SEC filing.

THE JOBS

Cargado?- Head of Marketing, Business Development Representative, Head of Customer Success

Document Crunch - Software Engineer - Platform, Sr. Software Engineer - Platform, Sr. Accountant?

Prokeep - Engineering Manager

There are 110+?open roles?on our jobs site. Check these out!