Led · Grant · Jun 2024

Zum builds the Connected Mobility Experience (CMX), a unified digital platform that combines dispatch, safety monitoring, routing, and parent communication to manage school bus operations in real time. The company operates in more than 4,500 schools across 17 U.S. states, including large districts such as Los Angeles Unified, Boston Public Schools, and San Francisco Unified. Zum says CMX has delivered measurable operational improvements for districts, including higher on-time performance and reductions in transportation costs through route optimization. The company positions CMX as a category-level operating system for school transportation in a roughly $50 billion student transportation market. Zum plans to use new capital to expand CMX deployment, scale its AI routing and fleet-optimization capabilities, and strengthen infrastructure for large-scale transportation networks. Following the $100 million investment from TPG’s Rise Funds, Zum has raised $430 million in total capital and is valued at $1.7 billion.

Led · Grant · Oct 2022

CleanRobotics develops TrashBot, an automated waste-sorting system that identifies and sorts items into corresponding internal bins at the point of disposal. The system combines robotics, computer vision, and machine learning to eliminate human error in on-site sorting decisions. CleanRobotics reports that TrashBot can recover circular materials at a 95% accuracy rate. TrashBot has been piloted in high-traffic facilities including Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and The National Aviary. The company was selected as one of eight small businesses nationwide to receive EPA SBIR Phase II funding and was awarded $400,000 to further develop and commercialize the product. The Phase II award is intended to support continued development and commercialization of TrashBot Zero. CleanRobotics, founded in 2015 in Colorado, develops the TrashBot — an on-board machine-learning and robotic system that sorts materials at a single disposal point. The company’s devices claim roughly 90% sorting accuracy and are deployed in high-traffic locations such as shopping malls and airports. TrashBot systems provide cloud connectivity, generate data for waste audits, trigger fullness alerts, and include a large display for video content. CleanRobotics says its fleet improves material diversion from landfills by reducing contamination in recyclables. The firm plans to scale manufacturing to produce “hundreds” of systems and is targeting partnerships in China, Australia and Singapore. Funding will also support additional hires, improved manufacturing, and ramped-up research and development.

Led · Grant · Dec 2021

IsoTruss, Inc. is an engineering, design, and manufacturing services provider that produces patented IsoTruss® composite lattice cell towers for the telecommunications industry. Its core product uses patented geometry and composite materials to reduce weight by roughly 12 times compared to steel while providing corrosion resistance, modularity, superior wind resistance, and an engineered lifespan the company says is at least five times longer than steel towers. The firm plans to deploy a lightweight, space‑saving mobile cell site that can be rapidly assembled and disassembled to provide temporary rural network coverage and to aid disaster response. IsoTruss states the mobile sites will be transportable by a light‑duty truck, lower total cost of ownership, and reduce CO2 emissions by 70% or more over a tower’s lifespan. Since 2019 the company has received multiple funding awards totaling nearly $1 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to support rural broadband expansion and R&D on reinforced concrete foundations for telecom towers. IsoTruss is based in Springville, Utah, holds a global portfolio of more than thirty patented and patent‑pending structural and composite material designs, and is an active member of the Institute of Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI). IsoTruss designs, engineers and manufactures patented IsoTruss® carbon fiber lattice cell towers aimed primarily at telecom infrastructure and 5G rollout. The composite towers are lightweight and corrosion-resistant, with claimed performance of up to 12× stronger than steel for a given weight (or as little as one‑twelfth the weight for a given load) and designs that can last at least five times longer than steel towers. IsoTruss says its towers reduce shipping, installation, and equipment costs, lower total cost of ownership, and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 70% or more over the tower’s lifespan. The company targets telecom, aerospace, civil infrastructure, energy, construction and other industries and offers R&D and manufacturing capabilities using its portfolio of patented and patent‑pending grid structures. IsoTruss is headquartered in Springville, Utah, and plans to open a second manufacturing facility in Pampanga, Philippines in Spring 2022 to ramp production for Southeast Asia. The company has also received government R&D support, including a $100,000 Phase 1 EPA award. IsoTruss manufactures patented IsoTruss® lattice cell towers made from composite materials that the company says are lightweight, durable, corrosion-resistant, and eco-friendly. Its IsoTruss® grid designs—based on isosceles triangles—are protected by a global portfolio of more than thirty patents and patent‑pending designs covering structures and manufacturing processes. The company reports its composite towers reduce material usage by twelve times on a weight basis, extend product lifetimes five times over steel solutions, and cut carbon emissions by about 70% versus traditional steel towers. IsoTruss has demonstrated a foam foundation pilot deployment that reduced installation costs by 60% compared to a typical tower foundation. The firm is using its composite technology and R&D capabilities to develop an eco-friendly composite-reinforced concrete foundation for telecom towers and intends to pursue other civil infrastructure applications such as roads, bridges, and buildings. IsoTruss positions its solutions as well-suited to hurricane/typhoon-prone regions and to support increased tower density tied to 5G deployment.