Dynamo Dispatch (10/10/22)

Issue 211 | Trash Warrior, Gather AI, The Rounds

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 💭

🏕️Founders Camp is finally here! Tune in to our Twitter or LinkedIn to get snippets of all the action taking place this week. Clay has been working on his photography skills and can’t wait to showcase his talent. Once again, we’d like to extend a huge thank you to our corporate sponsors: Chick-fil-A, Lineage Logistics, Schneider National, Fifth Third Bank, as well as local sponsors, FreightWaves, EPB, Nelson Mullins, and Market Street Partners. 

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 📦

Deliveroo Tweaks ‘Dark Store’ Model To Let Grocery Shoppers In The Door. Deliveroo’s new dark stores will function both as mini-warehouses for Deliveroo staff to fulfill orders and as a pick-up point for shoppers to pick up groceries. The most significant change is that even non-app users can enter the Deliveroo HOP outlet and order groceries using a digital kiosk for in-store service within minutes. For more information, consider reading Will Deliveroo’s New, Not-So-Dark Store Change How Ultra-Fast Delivery Is Done?

🌟Cargo Shipowners Cancel Sailings As Global Trade Flips From Backlogs To Empty Containers. This change comes as a result of Trans-Pacific shipping rates dropping over 75% from a year ago with container capacity dropping 13% in the Pacific. This is equivalent to nearly 21 ships carrying 8K containers. For more information on slowing cargo demand, consider reading Port Of New York Moves Ahead With New Threshold For Empty Container Fee On Ocean Carriers and Ocean Freight Orders Are Signaling A Big Drop In Consumer Demand.

Walmart-Friendly Inventory. Walmart is taking steps to ensure its supply chain is ready for the holidays. The retailer already has the infrastructure in place with a network of 4.7K store fulfillment centers that are located within 10 miles of 90% of the population. Several delivery method metrics were also announced such as its Spark Driver platform being capable of reaching 84% of households and its DroneUp delivery network, available in 34 locations. To learn more about Walmart’s holiday changes, read Walmart Making Five Changes That Will Affect Your Holiday Shopping – All Are In Response To Common Customer Requests.

Amazon Orders 20 Electric Trucks From Volvo. Expanding on its “The Climate Pledge” in which it has ordered 100K EV delivery vans from Rivian, 1.8K from Mercedes-Benz, and 10 from Lion Electric, Amazon has now purchased another 20 EV delivery trucks from Volvo. These trucks have a capacity of up to 44 tons GCW and a range of 300km but can cover up to 500km if a top-up charge is added during a normal workday. Read more about Amazon’s investment into EVs here: Amazon Begins Rolling Out Rivian Delivery EVs Across The US.

Small Businesses Getting Squeezed Out In Push For Warehouse Space. If these smaller companies are unable to recoup their costs without increasing their rates, they must begin looking for new space as US industrial real estate vacancy reached a 3-year low of 3.2% in Q1 of 2022. Such tight supply has increased rental rates throughout the US from $7.13 per sq/ft to $8.70 per sq/ft over the past year. Learn more about the shortage of warehouse space by reading As Transportation Bottlenecks Clear, Supply Chains Face Shortage Of Warehouse Space and Retailers Turn To Inventory Tech And Robotics To Ease Pain Of Limited Warehouse Space.

Tesla Semi Production Begins With Pepsi Getting The First Deliveries. Ladies and gentlemen, after a rough period of (multiple) delays, the Tesla Semi is finally hitting the road. Pepsi is considered an early adopter since it ordered over 100 trucks back in 2017. Don’t be surprised if this gets delayed any further though. 

Walgreens Turns to Prescription-Filling Robots To Free Up Pharmacists. Robotic pharmaceutical fulfillment will allow Walgreens to cut pharmacist workloads by 25% and save over $1B a year while maintaining its stature as the nation’s 2nd largest pharmacy chain. A pilot facility located in Dallas has cut pharmacist workloads by 40% as Walgreens aims to reach a point of 40-50% of all prescriptions to be robotically fulfilled. For more about robotics entering pharmacy operations, read Walgreens Expands Use Of Prescription-Packaging Robots and Walgreens Expanding Robot Network To Bolster Pharmacy Operations.

Mobility 🚗

Autonomous Vehicles Continue To Stall Out. Despite raising an estimated $100B to date, the advent of autonomous vehicles still seems a while away. While big names continue to project optimism, the growing consensus is that the world of robo-taxis is not just around the corner —  in fact, we might have to wait decades longer, or an eternity. This is further evidenced by the speed bumps that might await The Mobileye IPO, Despite Its First Mover Advantage.

Manhattan EV Charging Stations Outnumber Gas Stations 10 to 1. According to data from the DOE, the borough of Manhattan now has 320 publicly accessible EV charging stations, compared to just 29 gas stations. Gas stations still dominate across the city — 697 across all five boroughs vs. about 520 charging sites — but everywhere, charging is catching up. For further reading, check out this piece on An Innovative Model For Above-Ground Charging Installations. 

🌟Rivian Plans To Recall Nearly All Its Vehicles. On Friday evening, Rivian announced that it plans to recall nearly all its vehicles, citing a production issue in the steering wheel that might cause customers to lose control. In a letter to customers, Chief Executive RJ Scaringe urged customers to stop driving their vehicles if they experience issues with steering or suspension problems. “It’s important not to minimize the potential risks involved and why we are volunteering to conduct this recall,” Mr. Scaringe wrote. In other news, Tesla Deliveries Return Latest Quarterly Results to Record-Breaking Zone, 

Airline Industry Continues To Be Stalled By Manufacturing Delays. Airplane manufacturers Boeing and Airbus are months behind on order deliveries across the industry, plagued by supply chain bottlenecks and regulatory issues. The shortfall is affecting planning at carriers including American Airlines and United Airlines. Despite larger industry issues, Heathrow Plans To Lift Passenger Constraints After A Tumultuous Summer. 

Ford Jumps After Positive Q3 Results, Driven By EV Demand. On Tuesday, Ford Motor Co. reported its EV sales tripled in September, while overall deliveries gained 16% in the last quarter. The EV momentum is an early sign that CEO Jim Farley’s $50B bet on electrifying Ford’s lineup is starting to pay off. Despite this, The Company Still Plans To Hike The Price For The Electric F-150, Citing Rising Supply Costs. 

Bus Ridership Has Risen Post COVID, But Trains Continue To Lag. After falling to 28% of pre-pandemic levels in April 2020, bus ridership has recovered to about 66%, but is still down about a third. Rail transit, on the other hand, plummeted to just 10% of pre-pandemic levels in April 2020. Now, after most of COVID’s effects have receded, it stands at around 60%. For further reading, check out this piece on Transit Strategies That Could Increase Ridership By 15%. 

EPA Considers Expanding Renewable Fuel Credits to EVs. According to Reuters, the US Environmental Protection Agency is expected to include EVs in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which regulates the blending of renewable fuels. This would mean that electric RINs, or eRINs, could also be used to offset fossil fuel feed-in, bringing in new revenue to sellers such as Tesla. In other EV news, Volvo Is Planning To Utilize Bi-Directional Charging Features In A Major Way For It’s Future Vehicles. 

Fundraises and M&A 💸

Spexi Raises $5.5M Seed Round. The drone platform that Spexi built creates an ultra-high resolution base layer image of the earth which enables governments and organizations to make better decisions about real-world assets such as buildings, utilities, infrastructure, risk, and natural resources, without requiring labor. The round was led by Blockchange Ventures, with participation from Protocol Labs, InDro Robotics, Alliance DAO, and FJ Labs among others. The funds will be put towards operation and development expansion. 

Halo Car Raises $5M Seed. The Vegas-born startup built a teleoperated car-sharing service which, unlike the Ubers and Waymos of the autonomous world, provides human remote assistance at all times. At One Ventures led the round, with participation from T-Mobile Ventures, Earthshot Ventures, and existing investor Boost VC. The funds will help the startup expand into other markets and scale its fleet to 1K vehicles.

Trash Warrior Raises $8M Pre-Series A Round. The B2B waste management platform eliminates the need for calls, layers of brokers, back and forth negotiations and covers all waste needs. AltaIR Capital led the round, with participation from Amino Capital, Operator Partners, Vermilion Ventures, Hyphen Capital, and 500 Startups among others. The fresh funds will go towards improving technology, hiring new talent, and strengthening sales and marketing.

Farmerline Raises $8M Pre-Series A Round. Farmerline is a Ghanaian agribusiness marketplace. The fresh infusion of capital will be used to strengthen Farmerline’s supply chain in agribusiness and further develop the startup’s infrastructure. The round saw participation from investors all over including Dutch development bank FMO and Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF).

Gather AI Raises $10M Series A Round. Gather AI’s platform uses off-the-shelf autonomous drones, paired with sophisticated AI-driven software, to solve the problem of misplaced inventory in warehouses. Tribeca Venture Partners led the round with participation from existing investors Xplorer Capital, Dundee Venture Capital, Expa, Bling Capital, XRC Labs, and 99 tartans. The fresh funds will help accelerate Gather AI's GTM strategy and continue the development of its inventory visibility platform.

Eclypsium Raises $25M Series B Round. Eclypsium built a cloud platform that provides protection against device hardware, firmware, and software exploits in corporate environments and public sector environments. Ten Eleven Ventures led the round with participation from Global Brain’s KDDI Open Innovation Fund and J Ventures. The capital will go towards expanding Eclypsium’s product capabilities, supporting current sales efforts, and expanding headcount.

The Rounds Raises $38M Series A Round. Techcrunch does a great job summarizing what The Rounds focuses on: “The model employed by The Rounds involves what it calls reverse logistics — a system where online goods aren’t just delivered to the consumer, but their empty containers are also picked back up at the same time. Layered on top of this are regularly scheduled deliveries designed to restock basic household needs, from cleaning supplies to personal care items to shelf-stable foods and more.” Redpoint Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz led the round, which included seed investors Construct Capital and First Round Capital. 

Taranis Raises $40M Series B Round. Taranis’ crop intelligence platform leverages leaf-level imagery and is powered by ML, trained by the industry’s largest crop dataset containing over 200M AI data points. Inven Capital, a European climate tech fund, led the round with participation from Seraphim Space Investment Trust (‘SSIT’) and Farglory Group, alongside numerous other acclaimed investors. According to Bar Veinstein, Taranis’ CEO, “The new funding will allow us to accelerate our 3-year plan, rapidly expand our operations, and deliver transformative technology to the market faster.”

Loop Secures $60M In Funding. Loop is tackling one of the biggest hurdles that lay in the way of mass EV adoption by 2030: charging infrastructure. The fundraising round comes in two parts — a $40M Series A led by Fifth Wall, and a $20M line of financing to fuel operational growth. The use of funds is undisclosed.

Business Building 🛠️

Sequencing Steps From Founder Selling To A VP Sales. “If you hire the right people with the right skills at the right time to do the right job, you will build a sales engine. Don’t be influenced by the “too good to be true” charismatic salesperson who will solve all this for you and allow you to “finally get out of sales.” Founders must lead the initial selling efforts and coach the Sales Pioneer. The best-performing early-stage B2B SaaS organizations have a founder entrenched in the selling process until the engine is running. Avoiding this area or leaving it to someone else to figure out is perilous to your company.”

Why Innovation Heroes Are A Sign Of A Dysfunctional Organization. Steve Blank discusses how “innovation heros” or “innovation champions” indicate an organizational design issue. This suggests a lack of innovation doctrine and an accompanying innovation playbook in large companies.

The $100T Opportunity In Marketplaces. A teardown of B2B marketplaces that bring offline interactions, online. We see this across supply chain and you’ll oftentimes hear us call marketplaces workflow software that brings together a network - this reframing, in our view, helps refocus on the features that drive P/M-fit.

Who's Hiring? 👩‍💻

Product Specialist at SVT Robotics in Norfolk, VA.

Staff Software Engineer, Backend & APIs at VIZION in Atlanta, GA (remote ok).

Manufacturing Electronic Technician at Manna in Offaly, Ireland. 

Statistic Of The Week 📈

According to the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, the EU agency that contributes to the bloc’s cyber policy, 66% of cyberattacks focused on a supplier’s code as of 2021. Bear this in mind as digitization continues to disrupt our industry.