Dynamo Dispatch (10/03/22)

Issue 210 | Noodle.ai, Ox Security, Not So Dark

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 💭

🍂🍁Folks, fall is finally upon us. Say hello to pumpkin spice lattes, flannels, and a boatload of travel in Q4 (at least for us). If you’re going to any industry conferences in Q4, let us know–we’d love to meet up.

In other news, a huge shoutout to Apeksha Kumavat, co-founder and Chief Engineer at Gatik, for being recognized on the Inc. 2022 Female Founders 100 List. Well deserved! 

We Are Dynamo,

Clay, Santosh, Jon, and the rest of the Dynamo team

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

Supply Chain 📦

Major Shipper Says Reopening Of Hump Yards Has Helped Improve Rail Service. The rail industry continues its slow improvement amid continuing crew shortages,  stated shippers servicing the big four US Class I railroads in the North East Association of Rail Shippers conference last week. A major contributor to the growing success of the railroads has been the reopening of hump yard operations over the past few months, particularly in Georgia, Ohio, and California. For more information on the future of the rail industry, consider reading What Killed Public Transport In The US?

🌟Hurricane Ian Threatens To Make Food Inflation Worse As Path Aims At Fertilizer Hub. Hurricane Ian could prove catastrophic to the global food supply and hike costs in the US particularly, as we strive to protect Florida’s Mosaic Co and its phosphate rock assets. Mosaic has over 15.86M metric tons of MAP and DAP production capacity in the US and could face similar consequences as during Hurricane Irma, where more than 400K metric tons of phosphate product was lost. For more on Hurricane Ian, read What Hurricane Ian Means For Food And Gas Prices and Florida Braces For Disaster As Hurricane Ian Nears Landfall.

EU Proposes Rules Making It Easier To Sue Drone Makers, AI Systems. As drones become the new norm, people like the Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders believe that the priority should “always be ensuring the safety of consumers.” Under such regulations, the burden of proof still lands on the consumer but the “presumption of causality” will mitigate the difficulty of specifically proving fault or harm. To learn more about European AI regulation, consider reading EU Proposes Rules To Make It Easier To Sue Makers Of AI Systems And Drones and EU’s Reported Regulation On Drones Is An Effort To ‘Export Standards’: Industry Insider.

Amazon’s Robots Are Getting Closer To Replacing Human Hands. Growing labor concerns and ever-growing demand have prompted Amazon to finally fulfill Bezo’s 2019 prophecy of robotic systems being finally advanced enough to move products with similar prowess as a human hand. The company recently published a video of a new pinch-grabbing robotic system that could potentially displace millions of Amazon workers–workers that Amazon anticipates will be nonexistent in the US by 2024. Read more about Amazon’s development in warehouse technology, read Robots In Amazon Warehouses Moving Closer To Replacing Human Workers.

Ocean Carriers Up Blank Sailings To Brace For Softening October Demand. Plans consist of reducing capacity from 24-29% in the Asia to North America West Coast trade lanes, significantly higher than 18-28% in 2021 and 4-8% in 2020. Researchers say that more blank sailings are a result of stalled demand and not dropping freight rates or fully-utilized vessels. To read more, consider Intra-Asia Ocean Freight Rates On The Slide, But Still Stronger Than Long-Haul Lanes.

West Coast Ports May Permanently Lose Volume Share to East Coast. The Port of New York and New Jersey overtook the Port of LA this month as the busiest container port in the US, in terms of total TEU processed. In a tweet this past week, the Port of NY-NJ reported a nearly 24.1% increase in cargo volume compared to August 2019, marking the 25th straight month of cargo growth for the port. To read more on the success of West Coast ports, consider checking out New York Now The Busiest Shipping Port In The US, Leapfrogging California and New York Is Now The Nation’s Busiest Port In A Historic Tipping Point For US-Bound Trade.

FedEx Reports Declining Q1 FY 2023 Income. The nation’s largest package carrier has already predicted a steep decline in income for Q1 of 2023 as it looks to slash costs aggressively across the company. FedEx’s net income fell from $1.1B just a year earlier to $875M, dropping from $4.09 to $3.33 per diluted share. Get more information on FedEx, by reading FedEx Turmoil Another Worrying Sign For Construction-Heavy Industrial Market.

Mobility 🚗

New York To Mandate EVs by 2035. Gov Kathy Hochul announced this week that the state of NY will mandate all new vehicle purchases to be electric by 2035. The move comes on the heels of California announcing a similar policy earlier this month. All new school buses purchased will have to be zero-emission by 2027, with the entire fleet meeting these standards by 2035, according to the governor. Despite this, Ford Appears To Be Bucking The Trend With Its New Super-Duty Pickup. 

Porsche Makes Its Public Debut. VW’s Porsche successfully IPO’d this week at the top of its intended range, making it one of the largest European public offerings in decades. The IPO makes clear that investors are sometimes open to giving traditional automakers with good track records a better valuation. In other news, Luxury Competitor Jaguar Plans To Retrain 60% Of Its Workforce For The EV Transition.

🌟Qualcomm Sets Its Sights on Automotive. As consumer demand for smartphones slows, the legacy chipmaker is exploring options to diversify its strategic positions, with the auto industry at the top of the list. “The challenge for us in the automotive business is, how do we get the right mix of where we invest and how much do we invest,” said CFO Akash Palkhiwala. For further reading, Check Out This Piece On The Current State Of The Automotive Chip Industry.

EasyJet Plans To Decarbonize Without Offsets.  Budget airline EasyJet announced this week its new plans to decarbonize fleets, which doesn’t include the popular carbon offsetting approach of other airlines. Instead, it’s focusing its investments on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), improving efficiency, carbon-capture technology, and transitioning to zero-emissions technology as it becomes available. In related airline news, United Will No Longer Service JFK.

Tesla Semi Spotted On Shipping Routes. Despite its multi-year delivery delay, Tesla electric semi-trucks have recently been spotted around the country on the heels of Elon’s latest announcement of a 2023 delivery date. The company is believed to have thousands of reservations for the electric truck with several large companies having big orders, including Walmart and PepsiCo. In addition, Tesla Also Recently Appointed An Airbnb Co-Founder To Its Board. 

How Safe Are eBikes Really? Despite the sales numbers going through the roof in recent years for all eBikes, some folks still question the safety of their large lithium battery components, in lieu of recent fire accidents. For some consumers, safety may actually mean how likely their house is going to burn down while charging their eBike, and for others, it may be to do with incidents on the road. For further reading, Consider This Piece On The Environmentally Friendly Benefits Of eBikes.

Automakers Continue To Benefit From Supply Chain Constraints. Despite the rising popularity of EVs, carmakers continue to rake in record profits due to limited supply caused by supply chain disruptions. If you’re in the market, prepare to pay significantly over the standard sticker price. In related news, despite macroeconomic conditions, BMW Expects Sales Growth In 2023.

Fundraises and M&A 💸

Papaya Raises $3.5M Seed. The platform is designed to help fleet operators source and manage EVs. The round was led by Giant Ventures, with participation from Seedcamp, 20VC, FJ Labs, Flexport, Cocoa, and angel investors. The funds will be used to build Europe’s largest EV ecosystem and decarbonize European fleets. 

Kopperfield Raises $5M Seed. Kopperfield offers hassle-free, home EV charger installation. The round was co-led by General Catalyst and Lachy Groom with participation from Giant Ventures, MCJ Collective, and angel investors. The fresh proceeds will go towards speeding up EV charger adoption.

PandaGo Raises $5.2M Seed. PandaGo is Europe's first B2B EV renting marketplace. The round was led by Kibo Ventures, Big Sur Ventures, and JME Ventures. The new funding will go towards expanding to new markets and improving customer experience, marketing and sales. 

FourKites Raises $10M From A Corporate Round. FourKites is a supply chain visibility platform. The round was led by Mitsui & Co., Ltd. The funds will be used to further expand its supply chain visibility network in the APAC region.

Noodle.ai Raises $25M Series C Round. The San Fran-based startup is a provider of a supply chain intelligence system that enables companies to better manage their digital workflows and reduce silos. The venture arms of ServiceNow and Honeywell participated in the round. The fresh capital will be used to accelerate product innovation and technology integrations to support its customer base of companies across a wide range of industries.

Vendease Raises $30M Series A. Vendease is a Nigerian fresh and processed food procurement platform. The round was co-led by Partech and TLcom Capital with participation from VentureSouq, GFR Fund, Kube VC, Kairos Angels, Magic Fund, Hustle Fund, and Hack VC. The new capital will be used to expand and create additional products for its users.

Ox Security Raises $34M Seed. That is not a typo. Ox helps enterprises better secure their software supply chains. The round was led by Evolution Equity Partners, Team8, and Microsoft Corp’s venture capital fund M12 with participation from Rain Capital. The funds will be used for product development.

Not So Dark Raises $80M Series B. Not So Dark is a Paris-based online brand food delivery industry solution. The round was led by Kharis Capital and Verlinvest in partnership with Conviviality Ventures. The new funds will be used to further expand the startup’s virtual food delivery franchise model across Europe.

RoboSense Raises $150M In The Unknown Funding Series. RoboSense is a Chinese developer of sensor technologies used in self-driving cars. The round was led by China Structural Reform Fund, Mirae Asset Securities Co., and BYD Co. The new funding will be used to bankroll its product expansion.

Line Man Wongnai Raises $265M Series B. The round was led by GIC and Line Corporation, with participation from PTT Oil and Retail Business Public Co, Bualuang Ventures, Taiwan Mobile, and BRV Capital. The funding will be used to strengthen its position in the market and to facilitate tech infrastructure improvements. 

SPAC Radar📡

SPAC Gogoro Snags $345M Loan. The Taiwanese-based startup is a provider of electric scooters and a battery swapping system for urban electric two-wheel scooters and motorcycles. According to a company spokesperson, “Gogoro will use the funds to pay off an existing facility, secure energy cells for its batteries, support operations in Taiwan, and provide working capital as needed.”

Business Building 🛠️

SaaStr Annual 2022: Revenue Confidential: How the Top Sales Leaders Really Get It Done. Just watch it, take notes, and apply it. Especially for those companies on the journey to grow from $1M to $20M in sales.

Getting Ready to Move Up Market. An excellent primer on moving from SMB success to enterprise success. The multi-part framework is tactical and helpful to see when applied to Segment. We’re seeing this shift across supply chain technology and an important one to nail as companies look to expand into their TAM.

The Contrarian Story of Zoho. “VCs ‘tend to impose premature ambition on entrepreneurs and demand premature execution.’” is an interesting statement and in our humble opinion, something we’ve certainly observed.

Who's Hiring? 👩‍💻

Senior Software Engineer, Retail Platform at SKUPOS in San Fransisco, CA (remote ok).

Senior Full Stack Engineer at Factored Quality in New York City, NY (remote ok).

National Sales Representative at LogRock in Chicago, Illinois (remote ok).