Participated · Series B · Dec 2023

Nth Cycle has developed on-site technology to refine and recycle rare metals, enabling customers to process materials without carbon-heavy smelting. Its system cuts out overseas shipping for refining and recycling, addressing a supply-chain bottleneck where about 85% of rare metal processing occurs in China, per the U.S. Department of Commerce. Co-founder and CEO Megan O’Connor says speeding up material recovery from both mining and end-of-life products is critical to meeting clean-energy goals. The company’s tech targets use cases across electric vehicles as well as energy, defense and other industries. Nth Cycle announced a $44 million Series B that includes $37 million in equity led by VoLo Earth Ventures and participation from MM Catalyst Fund I and Caterpillar’s venture arm, plus $7 million in nondilutive government grants. The company previously participated in TechCrunch Battlefield. Nth Cycle is a metal processing technology company led by CEO Megan O’Connor and based in Boston, MA. It develops customizable, clean electro-extraction technology that installs onsite at recyclers and miners to recover critical minerals from separated e-waste and low-grade mine tailings. The company positions its technology within the critical mineral supply chain for electric vehicles, solar power, and energy storage, supporting recycling, mining and refining. Nth Cycle plans to deploy its first commercial units at recycling facilities in 2022. It also intends to expand its technical and development staff in 2022 to support commercial deployments. The company raised a $12.5M Series A to fund these deployments and growth initiatives. Nth Cycle builds an electro-extraction process that recovers cobalt and other production‑grade critical minerals from discarded batteries, e-waste, low‑grade ore and mine tailings using only electricity and carbon filters. The technology is positioned as a cleaner, lower‑cost alternative to conventional pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. Nth Cycle’s technology was developed at Harvard University and Yale University. The company recently opened new operations in the Boston area and has seen extensive interest from battery recyclers, mine operators, auto OEMs, micro‑mobility companies and battery manufacturers. Nth Cycle says it will use funding to execute its technology roadmap and deploy several pilot projects with recyclers and mine operators early next year. Company leadership frames the approach as expanding a circular supply chain for critical minerals and potentially mitigating significant CO2e emissions over coming decades.

Participated · Series A · Jan 2017

Sarcos Robotics develops the Guardian XO, a battery-powered robotic exoskeleton aimed at augmenting industrial workers rather than replacing them. The company plans to use its latest funding to bring the Guardian XO into full commercial production, with the suit scheduled for release next year and pre-orders already open. Sarcos is positioning the product for heavy-lift tasks — Delta announced at CES that it would partner with Sarcos to outfit ground crew to help lift up to 200 pounds without fatigue. Financially, the company announced a $40 million Series C and had previously raised $56.1 million. Founded in the early 1980s and spun out of Raytheon in 2015, Sarcos is based in Utah and has been a significant recipient of DARPA grants. ABI Research projects the market for these devices will exceed $11.5 billion over the next decade, indicating sizable market opportunity. Sarcos Robotics develops robotic systems that augment rather than replace humans, including the Guardian S mobile inspection and surveillance robot and the Guardian XO powered full-body industrial exoskeleton line. The company leverages more than 25 years of R&D and offers additional products such as the Guardian GT. Sarcos says its products aim to reduce workplace injuries while increasing productivity and efficiency across industries like manufacturing, construction, mining, oil & gas, power, aerospace and defense. The company has doubled its workforce in the last year as it scales. Sarcos is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, with additional offices in the Seattle area. It plans to use new funding to expand its team, scale production and deployment of the Guardian S, and prepare commercial launches of Guardian XO products in late 2019. Sarcos Robotics designs and produces dexterous, human-controlled robotic systems intended for use in unstructured environments to improve health, safety, and quality of life. The company is led by Chairman and CEO Benjamin Wolff and is based in Bellevue, Washington and Salt Lake City, Utah. Sarcos plans to use new capital to expand its team, commercialize its advanced robotics technologies, and grow sales and marketing efforts. In 2016 the company raised more than $25m in total funding. The firm develops robots aimed at industrial and field applications where human-level dexterity and remote operation are required. Recent corporate developments include new strategic investors joining the cap table and an addition to the board of directors.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2015

Uptake builds a plug-and-play SaaS platform that reads signals from industrial machines and applies machine-learning algorithms to predict failures and maintenance needs. The product works with both newer IoT systems and legacy sensors, extracting diagnostic signals such as vibrations to identify issues. Uptake holds multiple patents on its technology and positions itself as a solution for heavy industries including oil & gas, mining, energy and utilities. The company says it serves dozens of industrial customers across six continents, including Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Caterpillar and Panduit. Management has signaled plans to “go on the offence” and pursue large markets like gas and energy. Financially, Uptake is already cash-flow positive and has raised over $250 million to date. Uptake is a predictive analytics SaaS platform that delivers solutions across major industries to increase productivity, reliability, and safety. The company aggregates enterprise and external data and applies cross-industry data science to produce high-value, actionable insights. Uptake's platform is powered by a continuous feedback loop that recommends impactful actions which are then optimized by human intelligence. The company leverages partnerships with industry icons to support its platform and industry deployments. Uptake is led by Groupon co-founder Brad Keywell. Financially, Uptake recently raised $40 million from Revolution Growth. Uptake is a Chicago-based data analytics startup. The company focuses on data analytics services and solutions. It announced a $45 million funding round led by GreatPoint Ventures. New Enterprise Associates and Caterpillar, previous Uptake investors, also participated in the round. The financing pushed Uptake to an estimated $1.1 billion valuation, giving it “unicorn” status, according to The New York Times. The article does not provide additional operating metrics, product details, or future plans.