Dynamo Dispatch (10/17/22)

Issue 212 | LifeStore Healthcare, AgriWebb, YardLink

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 last week was a blast! Thanks to all our participants for making this year one of the most successful events we’ve hosted to date. Be sure to check out our social media for all the highlights. Special note for any founder interested in attending in 2023: be on the lookout for next year’s applications to open up–you don’t want to miss out. 😉

In other news, big shoutout to Gautam Narang, CEO of Gatik, for being named one of the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs of 2022 by Goldman Sachs. There are big things ahead for this awesome team and we’re #stoked to be a part of the ride.

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 📦

Amazon To Invest More Than €1B To Electrify Its European Transportation Network. Amazon continues its decarbonization efforts by investing in over 3K EVs across European cities, looking to reach a fleet size of 10K by 2025. Amazon has been able to continue its smooth operations by launching more than 20 micromobility hubs, which take advantage of new delivery methods such as eBikes. For more on Amazon, consider reading San Bernardino Amazon Workers Walk Off Job In Protest Of Pay, Working Conditions.

Warehouses Get A Makeover As Companies Seek To Appeal To Workers. The ever-growing demand for warehouses has resulted in industrial sites adding features such as natural light, automated operations to ease work burdens, fitness centers, and outdoor areas to appeal to workers. Average wages have also increased from $17.39 per hour to $18.38 per hour from May 2019 to May 2021. In related news, America’s Red-Hot Warehouse Market Shows Signs of Cooling and Robots Could Be Replacing People In Warehouses As Workers Disappear.

A Turbine Prototype Just Broke A 24-Hour Wind Power World Record. Siemens has recently developed the world’s most powerful single wind turbine, by output, producing 359 megawatt-hours in 24 hours. With enough power to run a mid-size EV for 1.12M miles, the Gamesa wind turbine has increased output by 25% compared to previous versions. To learn more about emerging energy technologies, consider reading Wind Power World Record Broken By ‘Revolutionary’ Turbine.

🌟TikTok Chases Amazon With Plans For US Fulfillment Centers. TikTok will now enter the eComm market, looking to build an international eComm fulfillment system that should include international warehousing, customs clearings, and supply chain systems. This was revealed through dozens of new job listings on LinkedIn, particularly in Seattle and other major cities on the West Coast. Learn more about TikTok’s expansion plans by reading TikTok Planning On Opening Warehouses In US and TikTok Wants To Open Warehouses.

US Imports Drop But Port Delays Remain. Container imports have decreased by 11% since 2021 in September to only 2.2M TEUs. The largest factor has been a decline in Chinese imports which are down 18.3% just from August and a total of 22.7% down compared to September 2021. For more, consider reading September Plunge In US Imports From Asia Signals More Declines Ahead.

US Producer Price Inflation Eases to Still-High 8.5%. This is the third straight decline in inflation, despite costs still being far too high for most companies. The Producer Price Index, which measures price changes before reaching the customer, rose by 0.4% in September following two months of decline. To read more about the October 12th report, check out Daily Markets: Producer Prices Help Bring Fed Path Into Focus.

Labor Department Proposes New Rule On Independent Contractors. These new laws are aimed at preventing the misclassification of employees, which can oftentimes deprive truckers of their labor protections and legally earned wages. The new proposal by the DoL will overturn Trump’s 2021 Independent Contractor Rule, which removed the requirement for a test to determine the classification of workers as an employee or independent contractor.  Learn more about changing labor laws by reading Here’s What A New Biden Administration Labor Proposal Would Mean For Independent Contractors.

Mobility 🚗

Automakers’ Bold Plans For EVs Spur A Battery Boom.  As OEMs seek to meet demand and hit growth targets for EVs, the US is seeing a major uptick in manufacturing for battery components. To date, there’s been $40B in US EV factory investment since last year, with capacity expected to grow more than fivefold from 2021 to 2026. For more on EV onshoring, Check Out This List Of EV Investment Announcements. 

🌟Europe’s Automobile Output Set to Plummet. Plagued by continued supply chain constraints and rising energy costs, Europe’s carmakers could see quarterly production drop by 1M, with Spain, Belgium, and France hit the hardest, according to an S&P Global Mobility Report. In related EV news, Nikola Founder Trevor Milton Has Been Convicted Of Fraud. 

Aviation Embarks on Electrification & Raises Safety Concerns. While fully electric airplanes are still a while away, airlines and manufacturers are feeling the heat as consumers pressure them to find ways to decarbonize. However, with this transition, comes concerns around safety and regulations, namely regarding the lithium-ion batteries that will power them and hazard containment. For more reading on Airline Electrification, Check Out This Piece On The Industrial Shift. 

Labor Department Proposals Signal A Big Shift For Gig-Powered Mobility. This week, the Biden Labor Department released details on a new proposal that could reclassify gig workers as full-time employees, causing shares of mobility providers like Uber and Lyft to plummet. Shares of Lyft fell 12% on Tuesday, while Uber dropped 10.4% and DoorDash shed 6%. For more on driver regulation, Check Out This Piece On London’s Strategy To Combat Vehicle Air Pollution. 

GM Has Larger Electric Plans Than Just Cars. The legacy OEM announced this week the formation of GE Energy, with a full new slate of proposed products and services to complement its foray into EVs. This could include sales of energy storage and management services to residential and commercial customers, all in an attempt to create an EV ecosystem with batteries, charging, connectivity, and energy management packages. Rival Automaker Hyundai Is Taking A Different Approach, Putting Its Chips On Software Enabled Vehicles. 

Bring On Drive-In Gaming. European automaker BMW announced this week a fresh partnership with AirConsole, which will install single and multiplayer games within consoles of the next BMW models. AirConsole spun out of BMW’s iGarage, which is its corporate incubator. In Other Automaker News, Honda Is Planning On Creating A $700M EV Hub In Ohio.

Amazon Doubles Down on Micromobility in Europe. Amazon recently announced its commitment to expand micromobility solutions across Europe, where it already operates in 20 cities, and expects to double that footprint by the end of 2025. The initiative is part of a wider investment by Amazon of more than €1B over the next 5 years to further electrify and decarbonize its transportation network across the continent. For more on corporate mobility innovation, Consider This Piece On Whether Apple Should Launch Its Own eBike. 

Fundraises and M&A 💸

LifeStore Healthcare Raises $3M In Seed Funding. 20-40% of pharmaceutical drugs in Nigeria are counterfeit and Lifestore Healthcare has created a marketplace to address this painful problem. Health54 led the round, with participation from Aruwa Capital Management and other existing investors. The freshly-infused capital will go towards network and B2C service expansions.

Vecmocon Raises $5.2M In Seed Funding. The India-based startup has built products such as a motor controller, a vehicle intelligence module, and a battery management system and charger that opens the door to internet-connected EVs. Tiger Global and Blume Ventures led the round which also included angel investors. The capital will go towards team building, business expansion, scaling up operations, and further product innovation.

AgriWebb Raises Additional $6.7M In Series B Funding. The Denver-based company built a platform that helps ranchers replace handwritten notebooks and optimize their operations digitally. Germin8 and iSelect Fund were the two firms who invested the additional capital bringing the total raised amount to about $29M. The funds will primarily go toward network expansion.

Arta Raises $11M In Series A Funding. “Arta is designed to help merchants, marketplaces, and auction houses accelerate eComm by automating everything from shipping to tracking and insurance.” AXA Venture Partners led the round, with participation from Corazon Capital, Coelius Capital, Pari Passu Venture Partners, and Mu Ventures. The fresh capital will be allocated towards expanding its technology platform, international coverage, compliance and insurance products, and building integrations for businesses.

YardLink Raises $17.5M In Series A Funding. The UK-based startup allows construction companies to “obtain critical equipment faster than normal equipment rental companies.” Beringea led the round, with participation from Amplifier and existing investors Speedinvest and FJ Labs. The use of the funds is unknown at this time. 

Katana Raises $34M In Series B Funding. The Estonia-based company built an “ERP for the manufacturing sector, with pre-built integrations for many of the most common tools that a manufacturer might use, including eComm platforms, shipping, forecasting, and CRMs.” The funding will go towards product development.

Crisp Acquires Eetfabriek, Raises $73M In Funding. The online, app-only supermarket based in Amsterdam acquired the Zwanenburg-based fresh food supplier which has been a major supplier for Crisp in the past.  “Half of the funding came from long-term investors such as Target Global and Keen Venture Partners while several Dutch entrepreneurs and executives have joined as new investors.” The capital will go towards its in-house vertical integration efforts.

TripActions Raises $354M In Series G Funding. The startup, now valued at over $9B, offers a “modern travel, corporate card, and expense management solution” that uses the latest in AI-driven tech. The funding is split into two rounds: a $154M equity round from investors, including follow-on investors Andreessen Horowitz and Premji Invest, and a $150M structured financing deal from Coatue. TripActions will use the funds for global expansion, building off of its expense management launch in Europe and new offices in Portugal, Germany, France, and the UK.

Universal Hydrogen Raises Equity In Unknown Funding Round. The California-based startup has a green hydrogen distribution and logistics network for aviation. With the addition of American, Universal has built quite the list of strategic investors which also include Airbus Ventures, GE Aviation, Toyota Ventures, JetBlue Ventures, and “several major hydrogen producers and aircraft lessors.” The capital allocation remains unknown at this time.

Business Building 🛠️

Managing Acquihires. Gokul Rajaram draws from over a dozen acquihire experiences and delves into a framework covering talent, domain, and team size that he attributes to success in such a scenario. As venture and macro softening continues, the number of acquihires will increase and this perspective is worth considering. 

Product Vision Template. Some of our founders have heard Santosh draw some of these principles when discussing customer needs vis-à-vis product.  

GMV Retention. GMV retention looks at the health of one’s marketplace and can 1) help validate P/M-fit, 2) help hit growth targets, 3) manage marketing spend, and 4) be an indicator of customer health.

Who's Hiring? 👩‍💻

Director Of Enterprise Sales at SKUPOS in Denver, CO (remote ok).

Field Application Engineer at Tangram Vision in Boulder, CO (remote ok).

Senior Backend Engineer at Amitruck in Nairobi, Kenya. 

Random Statistic Of The Week 📈

Mexico ranked as the US’s top trading partner in August, accounting for $70.3B in cross-border commerce according to the most recent data from the US Census Bureau. Of that figure, the top 3 exports include computers ($3.46B), passenger vehicles ($3.26B), and motor vehicle parts ($2.9B).