Dynamo Dispatch (05/06/23)

Issue 239 | Altigreen, Made4net, Embark

Dynamo Dispatch. A weekly update from Dynamo Ventures covering the latest and greatest in supply chain, mobility, and building venture-scale businesses.

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Weekly Commentary 💭

📣Welcome to  June!  

We’re ready for summer, but also looking ahead to October and Hub + Spoke.  Friendly reminder that we’ve rebranded Founders Camp to Hub + Spoke and applications are open. Over the course of three days from Monday October 16th to Wednesday October 18th, in Chattanooga, TN, founders can make meaningful relationships and develop a deeper understanding of the supply chain to accelerate their business. Competitive companies should have a strong team, a product/service built, and early traction with customers/users. Companies that are looking to raise a seed or Series A round would benefit from the programming. 

Applications are due August 20th at 11:59 PM PT. More information and the link to the application are available here. 

🥰Love reading the Dispatch? Make sure you forward it to anyone looking to stay up to date with all things supply chain and mobility.

We Are Dynamo,

Santosh, Jon, and the rest of the Dynamo team (thanks to Anneli for the editorial support this week)

Note: please add “dynamo@substack.com” to your email client, so you don’t miss future issues due to aggressive spam filters.

Supply Chain 📦 

⭐‘Super’ Slow Steaming Makes A Comeback As Surplus Capacity Builds. The average sailing speed of container ships this past month was 3.4% lower compared to that of April 2019, according to shipping analysts at BIMICO. In contrast, the total global available fleet supply has outgrown Far East export volumes, with the global container fleet growing to 26.2M TEUs by the end of April. Related, Allianz Says Ship Losses Down in 2022, Dark Fleets and Fires Top Concerns.

Cargo Theft And Fraud Rose 41% In The First 20 Weeks Of 2023 Over Last Year, CargoNet Warns. A popular scam known as shipment misdirection, with fictitious pickup and fraud complaints, is up 675% y/y. The majority of such fraud has occurred in California, with a preference towards non-alcoholic beverages, solar panels, and vehicle accessories.

Seaspan: Carrier Decarbonization Business Case Flawed. The biggest issue appears to be the lack of security around the green fuel supply that carriers have had up until now, which creates a sort of “‘catch-22 between demand not quite being there and supply not being there”, according to COO of Seaspan, Torsten Pedersen. However, this varies greatly from the perspective of Maersk, which maintains momentum is building in the alternative fuel sector. On the subject of weather and climate, What El Nino Will Mean for Global Shipping.

Growth Waning at Instacart and Gopuff. Instacart displayed a 2% decline in the number of grocery orders processed in Q1, while its gross transaction volume only increased by 3% y/y. However, by improving its operations and slashing costs, Instacart’s EBITDA has increased by nearly a quarter  y/y to about $170M. Elsewhere, Retails Realizing Ambitious Logistics Strategies Aren’t Delivering.

Global Container Production To Slump To 14-Year Low. Global box production has contracted 71% y/y to just 306K TEUS in Q1 of 2023. This marks the lowest level since 2009, and results from increased retirements of containers. Due to aging or damaged boxes, the number has been reduced to 2.8M in 2023, which adds to the supply chain congestion. Related, Column: Global Freight Cycle May Have Reached Lowest Point and CMA CGM Expects Downturn To Continue Throughout 2023.

California’s Electric-Vehicle Drive Draws Startups Building Charging Networks. This has begun with California aiming to replace nearly 30K heavily-polluting vehicles with clean vehicles by 2035, resulting in a significant need for charging support for such vehicles. The charging infrastructure required is massive and will need to be able to service the state’s largest warehousing hubs, ports, and other such major connection points. Also, Daimler, Toyota, & Mitsubishi To Partner On Hydrogen Tech. 

Mobility 🚗 

⭐Tesla Surprises By Gaining Full $7.5K Tax Credit On Cheapest Model 3, Now Starts At $30K. It’s unclear how Tesla managed to do it, but buyers of the Model 3 now have access to the full tax credit, instead of the $3.75K previously calculated. Households that aim to get the tax credits, which would bring the base model down to a price of $32,740, will need an adjusted gross income of less than $300K for married couples, $225 for heads of households, or $150K for all others. Related, Tesla Price War Padded By $1.8 Billion Windfall From Biden’s IRA and Tesla Appears To Be Liquidating Model 3 Ahead Of Refresh Launch.

GM's Barra: Profit Potential In 'Above And Beyond' Tech, Not Heated Seats. The CEO, Mary Barra, stated this past Friday that GM believes software and services could generate up to $25B in revenue by 2030. For example, GM has started bringing in “outside talent with experience in that space” such as Mike Abbott to become executive VP of Software, who formally led cloud services at Apple. Also, GM And Stellantis Paid $364M In Fuel Economy Fines.

Toyota Pledges $2.1B More For EV Battery Plant In North Carolina. The Japanese carmaker’s first US-made battery-electric SUVs will be assembled at the company’s Kentucky plant, while the NC plant will begin production for batteries in 2025. This brings Toyota’s EV investment to $5.9B, aiming to reach 1.5M in EV sales by 2026. In similar news, read A Toyota EV Drove 1,200 Miles Without Stopping To Charge Thanks To Electric Roads With Wireless Charging.

French City to Begin Charging Parking Based on Vehicle Weight. The city of Lyon will now charge a range of residential parking fees from €15-45,  based on the fuel usage and weight of cars, specifically targeting SUVs. This expands on France’s ongoing battle against fossil fuel-powered large vehicles, which already are served a one-off purchase tax. 

Electrified Boats Won't Leave You Stranded. The leisure boating industry is beginning to engage in the same fully electric journey, starting with Candela and its new electric water crafts. The use of hydrofoiling has opened a whole new industry of electric boats, with a 20-minute boat ride resulting in 50 euros of fuel costs. For more information, consider reading State Of Play: Electric Boat Startups Are Making Waves.

Fundraises and M&A 💸

Wellplaece Raises $5.5M In Seed Funding. Wellplaece is an SF-based supply purchasing platform for 186,000 dental professionals within the US. Wellplaece’s proprietary technology digests a client’s ordering data, taking into account specific needs, and then enables the customer to make those specific purchasing behaviors across a large network of suppliers via one shopping cart. The round was co-led by Eniac Ventures and Bee Partners.  

Fortify Raises $12.5M In New Funding. Fortify is a Boston-based materials, science, and additive manufacturing startup, specializing in printing lenses to improve the performance of satellite antennas.  The VC arms of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon led the round. 

Beem Raises €20M In Series A Funding. Beem, based in Nantes, France, is an energy management company empowering European homes to better manage their energy. As part of its development strategy, Beem will use this funding to meet the growing demand from individuals to produce their own renewable energy and strengthens its position as a leader in the home energy management market. Investors in the round include AlterEquity, 360 Capital, BNP Paribas Development, and Cathay Innovation. 

Ceibo Raises $30M In Series B Funding. Ceibo, a Chilean developer of copper extraction technologies, raised new funding to increase capacity. Less than a decade from now, demand for copper is expected to outstrip supply by 6.5M metric tons. Energy Impact Partners led the round and was joined by CoTec Holdings, Audley, Orion Resources, Unearth, Pincus Green, as well as insiders Khosla Ventures and Aurus Ventures. 

CleanJoule Raises $50M In New Funding. CleanJoule is a US-based start-up focused on the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The funding round marks an important chapter, CleanJoule says, in the global effort to mitigate carbon emissions and deliver meaningful climate action. The round will support the further development of high-performance SAF from agricultural residues and other waste biomass.  The round was led by US private equity (PE) firm Indigo Partners and includes participation by GenZero, Cleanhill Partners, and three airlines – US-based Frontier Airlines, Europe-based Wizz Air, and Mexico-based Volaris.

Altigreen Seeking To Raise $85M In New Funding. Altigreen makes India’s most advanced electric three-wheeler cargo vehicles. They currently manufacture around 55,000 vehicles annually. They will use the new funding to ramp up production and invest in new models, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ikea Stores Owner Ingka Investments Acquiring Made4net. Made4net a Teaneck, NJ-based warehouse management system and supply chain execution software provider was acquired for an undisclosed sum. With this acquisition, Ingka Group will deploy Made4net’s technology across its stores to update its fulfillment and omnichannel operations to speed up its deliveries, accurately fulfill orders, and better manage its supply chain

Daimler Truck Holding And Toyota Announce Non-Binding Agreement To Combine Their Truck Units In Japan. Under the memorandum of understanding (MOU), the businesses of Daimler-owned Mitsubishi Fuso Truck, Bus Corp, and Toyota subsidiary Hino Motors Ltd will combine under a holding company. The shares of the new company are expected to be listed on the Prime Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Applied Intuition To Buy Autonomous Trucking Startup, Embark For $71M. Embark Trucks, the autonomous trucking company that recently cut 70% of its workforce, is being acquired by Applied Intuition, a simulation and software provider for autonomous vehicle development. Embark, like many so-called SPACs that joined the public markets before they were mature enough, has struggled to develop and commercialize its autonomous vehicle technology.

Who's Hiring? 👩‍💻

Be sure to check out the Dynamo website for more job opportunities at our portfolio companies!

Senior Full-stack Engineer at sennder in Berlin, Germany (Berlin, Barcelona, or Madrid).

Full-stack Engineer at Improvin’ in Stockholm, Sweden (remote). 

Test/Project Manager at Paintjet in Nashville, TN (Dallas or remote). 

Random Statistic Of The Week 📈

🤖 2,000 AI-powered sidewalk delivery robots are about to hit the streets of North America. Serve Robotics recently announced an agreement with Uber to deploy the robots to deliver Uber Eats. The shortlist of cities up for consideration includes Vancouver, Canada; San José, California; and Dallas, Texas. To learn more check out Serve Robotics to deploy up to 2,000 delivery bots on Uber Eats.