Led · Seed · May 2024

Shaed offers a platform for mobility and is launching its first marketplace product, CommercialEVs.com, aimed at transforming the transportation industry. The platform is designed to accommodate accelerating AI capabilities and to provide a framework for future recommendation engines. Its product delivers an end-to-end digital experience that spans initial concept through manufacturing, upfitting, charging, and support services. The company’s roadmap covers the entire vehicle journey from acquisition to disposition. Shaed intends to use the recently raised funds to further enhance growth, operations, and development efforts. The company is based in Minneapolis, MN.

Participated · Series A · Mar 2024

Recurrent is a software-only platform that analyzes EV battery health and produces standardized battery-health scores for consumers and dealerships. It ingests data from thousands of EVs daily and normalizes for driving behavior, charging patterns, and weather to enable apples-to-apples comparisons between used vehicles. Its battery health scores are displayed on consumer sites such as Edmunds.com and Cars.com, and the platform has attracted over 20,000 drivers. Recurrent’s mission is to give used EV buyers clearer insights into range dynamics and how batteries degrade over time. Founded in 2020 and based in Seattle, the company plans to bolster its used EV battery reporting capabilities following a recent fundraise. The startup reports a remarkable revenue surge and the CEO forecasts a tenfold expansion in the used EV sector over the next five years. Recurrent provides comprehensive EV battery reports that display Excellent/Good/Fair ratings and quantify a vehicle’s current range relative to its original range. Its reports are used by dealers, wholesalers and individual buyers to add transparency to the pre-owned EV market. The company says the new funding will be used to scale its product and further enhance features for corporate clients and EV owners. Recurrent has begun partnerships to deploy its ratings on dealer lots and in digital wholesale auctions. Del Grande Dealer Group will feature Recurrent ratings across its 19 rooftops, and a large used-auto wholesale auction provider will add ratings to its digital auctions. Recurrent was founded in 2020 and is headquartered in Seattle. Recurrent provides third-party battery life and range reports to help buyers evaluate used electric vehicles. The startup collects real-world driving data from contributors and has nearly 3,000 EV drivers contributing data and has collected nearly 6 million individual data points. Recurrent launched in September as a spinout of Pioneer Square Labs and is led by co-founders CEO Scott Case and CTO Kyle Rippey. It has 11 employees and in December raised a $3.5 million seed round. The company is building what it describes as the largest real-world database of EV ranges and plans to expand contributor recruitment and validate vehicle battery data against hands-on diagnostics. The business benefits from rising used-EV prices — Recurrent reports used EV prices increased by about $1,500 on average over the past two months. Recurrent builds third-party battery condition reports for used electric-vehicle shoppers and monthly battery-analytics reports for EV owners. The company collects its data from roughly 2,500 volunteer EV drivers who use the Recurrent service. Recurrent says its product helps bring transparency to the growing used-EV market by verifying battery life and range. The startup will use the new financing to invest in continued product development as it refines its condition reports and battery analytics. Investors emphasized market timing given rising used-EV sales and favorable policy tailwinds for EV adoption.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2019

Sofdesk is a Canadian software company that builds sales acceleration tools and end-to-end business management solutions for solar and roofing contractors, including its Solargraf and Roofgraf web platforms. The company offers web-based applications to help contractors size systems, generate leads, and create customized proposals quickly. In October 2019 Generac led a $4.3M Series B and took a minority equity stake; the capital was intended to scale Sofdesk's sales, marketing, and development teams to expand its customer base. As part of the investment Generac and Sofdesk signed an exclusive commercial agreement to co-develop PowerPlay CE, a tool designed for Generac Clean Energy contractors to size and spec storage and solar systems and produce proposals. PowerPlay CE was expected to be available to Generac dealers in January 2020, following the planned December 2019 release of Generac's PWRcell system. Sofdesk positions itself to serve contractors, distributors and manufacturers seeking scalable web-based sales and business management tools in the growing solar and storage markets. Sofdesk offers an all-in-one sales acceleration software platform that combines project management, automation, sales lead sourcing, data and advanced quoting tools. Its main product lines include Solargraf, a SaaS platform for solar installers, and Roofgraf, a SaaS application for roofing companies to source new business. Led by CEO Lennie Moreno, the company sells software solutions across multiple markets including solar, roofing and utilities. Sofdesk is also developing software solutions for future platforms including the insurance and utility sectors. The company intends to expand and scale its software data platform into new markets and to build on its existing management team. The recent financing provides capital to support those expansion and product development plans.

Participated · Series A · Sep 2017

Ushr supplies survey‑grade HD maps and accompanying software for advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicles. The company emphasizes lane‑level, high‑accuracy roadway collection and feature attribution to enable safe hands‑free driver assistance. Ushr is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dynamic Map Platform Co., Ltd. and has operated since 2017; it is headquartered in Livonia, Michigan with map operations in Lompoc, California. Recent capital commitments will fund expansion of HD map coverage and software capabilities in Europe via a new DMP Europe GmbH subsidiary. Ushr’s product roadmap is oriented toward supporting automakers’ global ADAS feature deployment and the international standardization of HD maps. The company’s work is explicitly positioned to help automakers deploy consistent HD map and software data formats across Japan, North America and Europe. Ushr is a geospatial measurement and mapping company that supplies HD maps and software for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles. Its precise HD maps have enabled hands-free driver assistance since 2017 and were the first-to-market in a production vehicle. Ushr is headquartered in Livonia, Michigan, maintains map operations in Lompoc, California, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dynamic Map Platform (DMP). DMP completed its acquisition of Ushr in June 2019. The company has spent the past four years proving that its highly accurate HD maps support safety and performance criteria for luxury-vehicle ADAS in North America. Ushr plans to expand HD map coverage to non-highway roads, improve its ability to detect and capture roadway changes, and strengthen its software portfolio. Ushr develops high-definition (HD) mapping technology and software for autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles, integrating vehicle sensors and on-road cameras. Its control algorithms continuously interpret and communicate sensor and camera data to vehicle control systems to enable more precise steering, safer vehicle control, and directional predictability. The technology currently applies to Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) but is intended to play a role across every stage of the autonomous driving spectrum. Ushr is a June 2017 spin-off of GeoDigital, Inc., led by CEO Bruce Gordon, and is based in Detroit, Michigan. The company is working with major automotive manufacturers and suppliers, including General Motors, to integrate its software and map technology into future products. It recently raised $10m in a Series A financing to advance data acquisition technologies, build a fleet of data collection vehicles, develop automated map production using AI, and test in-vehicle software on automotive-grade embedded hardware.

Led · Series A · Jul 2017

Powerside provides power monitoring solutions that analyze, detect and correct power quality issues using tailored measurement, intelligence, and correction products. The company emphasizes a customer-centric approach and a suite of solutions to help customers identify and address power-quality challenges. Powerside has deployed over 80,000 monitoring solutions and completed more than 15,000 power correction projects across more than 50 countries. The company is led by CEO Ross Dueber and is based in Alameda, CA. It received growth funding and plans to use the proceeds to expand operations and broaden its business reach. Financial terms and instruments of the funding were not disclosed in the article. Power Survey and Equipment Ltd. is a Montreal, Canada-based manufacturer of power quality systems led by President and CEO Mario Barbaresso. The company provides customized power factor correction and harmonic filtering technologies and solutions. It serves customers in the United States and Canada and supports projects around the world through a network of agents, value-added resellers and distributors. Power Survey intends to use recent funding to support M&A opportunities and to drive geographic and product-line expansion. It has already pursued M&A, including the recent acquisition of Power Standards Lab (PSL). The company received $24M in a Series A2 funding round.