Dynamo Dispatch. Weekly update from Dynamo Ventures covering the latest and greatest in supply chain, mobility, and building venture-scale businesses.

💥 Have you seen any interesting startups recently? Introduce us.❤️ We would love your support. Please forward to friends and share on social media.🗞️ If you were forwarded this and found it interesting, please sign up.🎙 Check out Dynamo's podcast series, The Future of Supply Chain.

Weekly Commentary 💭

We wish everyone a safe, healthy, and Happy Thanksgiving!

We Are Dynamo,

Santosh, Ted, Barry, Jon, and William

Note: please add “[email protected]” to your email client so you don’t miss future issues due to aggressive spam filters.

Supply Chain 📦

Walmart Execs Find Stockouts Track With COVID-19 Hotspots. Analyzing COVID case counts at the local level could help Walmart predict and prioritize replenishment orders to reduce crippling stockouts. Key items like hand sanitizer and fresh meat are in greater supply for the retailer, but dry grocery goods and aluminum-based products struggle with stockouts. Related, IATA Provides Guidance for Vaccine Distribution.

How Amazon’s Recent Move Could Impact Pharmacy Supply Chains Going Forward. As Santosh tweeted last week- The breadth of Amazon's logistics capabilities provide it with amazing operating leverage and a capability to drive experiences others can't. They're piling on the volume of SKUs they can push through "the machine." Medicines are one of the few items left for Amazon to address and is an obvious addition at this point: 1) high value; 2) consistent volumes; 3) low churn. Sounds like a great recipe for last mile delivery! Related, Amazon Lays off Dozens of Drone Program Employees.

Maersk Anticipates Elevated Contract Rates Following Uptick in Spots Prices. Despite an overall volume decline in Q3, heightened demand across lanes into North America enabled Maersk to boost rates 4.4% y/y across its network. Uneven volume recoveries paired with shifting demand and capacity patterns is likely to drive freight rates higher as the contracting season arrives, further burdening shipper operations. Asia tradelanes now seeing Peak Season and Port Congestion Surcharges.

New Product Radar: Forager Expands Digital Marketplace Capabilities to More Shippers with Blue Yonder, Emerge’s New Digital Marketplace Feature, Convoy Invests Further in Predictive Capabilities.

🌟Investing in Supply Chain Resilience Amid the Pandemic Pays Dividends. The pandemic has shown ramifications of insufficient supply chain infrastructure. A survey of supply chain experts in the automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics, and pharmaceutical spaces found on average every 24 months there’s a shock that halts supply and production for up to two weeks at a time. More damaging, expected losses from supply chain disruptions equal 42% of one year’s EBITDA over the course of 10 years. Given these figures, we expect supply chain resilience to remain a key priority for execs post-pandemic. ICYMI, we discussed Antifragile Supply Chains in March.

How Retail Can Adapt Supply Chains to Achieve Success in the Next Normal. With a majority of US consumers planning to permanently shift their purchases almost completely online, discretionary retailers face mounting pressures to adequately prep their supply chains. Some retailers began leveraging physical store footprints to boost omnichannel operations while others are building microfulfillment centers in dense urban areas as they aim to get ahead of evolving consumer trends.As eComm ramps, Automation Spurs Opportunity in Logistics Real Estate and Retailers Brace for Holidays with Untested Delivery Services.

Mobility 🚗

GM Amplifies EV Ambitions With New Investment. The Detroit automaker ups its EV investment 35% to $27B to support an ambitious EV deployment timeline. GM moved up the release of 12 EVs including Chevrolet and GMC brands, demonstrating the company’s yearning to not only participate in the EV space, but insert itself as a household name. Elsewhere, the Automaker Launches Use-Based OnStar Insurance Vehicles.

German Automakers Revel in Government’s New $3.6B EV Boost. Aiming to catch up with Chinese and American EV automakers, substantial capital from the government serves as a key accelerant to Germany’s EV ambitions. BMW CEO Oliver Zipse pointed to a lack of charging stations in the country but remains optimistic as the automaker plans to offer 25 electrified models by 2023 and expects a 30% increase in sales each year until 2025. Despite the government investment, hurdles remain as there would need to be 550K electric cars actively on the roads to make the country’s existing infrastructure profitable. Related, German Power Grids Launch Electric Car Project With Bosch, VWand VW’s Delay of the ID.4.

How Four European Cities Drive Out Cars Amid Micromobility Embrace. Paris, Barcelona, London, and Milan take actionable steps to rethink and reshape urban mobility in their cities. Paris moved to ban vehicles from certain segments of the city while designating some roadways for “soft mobility” only. Barcelona is transforming some central districts into “superblocks” - green urban spaces naturally suited for micromobility. London will deploy ultra-low emission zones while Milan plans to reduce the speed limit to 30km/hour on a majority of city roads. Back stateside, CHA Among 36 Cities Pioneering Transportation Tech Innovation Zone as MTA Prepares to Borrow $3B from the Fed.

Upgraded Radar to Help AVs See in Bad Weather. Engineers introduce a “LiDAR-like radar” with two sensors on the hood spaced 1.5 meters apart to enable the system to see further and clearer in deteriorating conditions. The new radar also produces a new image free of noise, establishing itself as a key competitor to LiDAR and bringing us one step closer to roadway safe AV deployments.In the realm of connected cars, NXP, Amazon Partner for Car Cloud Computing Services.

🌟EV Car Battery Prices on Path to Hit $100/kwh by 2023. The last 9 years witnessed a historic decline in lithium ion battery prices from $1.1K/kwh to $156/kwh. Driven by falling manufacturing costs and battery makers building plants on a regional basis, falling battery prices have made it more attractive to electrify a greater variety of vehicles, a win-win for the environment. Corollary to EV batteries, The Storage Tech Driving the Energy Transition.

eBike Prices Face Steep Cuts to Boost Ridership. European municipalities consider a number of incentives to boost eBike ridership including tax-payer funded discounts, bike repair vouchers, and a £175M investment for a wider cycling infrastructure buildout. The government hopes to sway older populations, less fit individuals, and former public transport riders to adopt cycling habits and cut back on high emission modes of transportation.Speaking of shared mobility, Consumers Remain Weary of Shared Mobility and Travel.

Fundraises, M&A, Talent 💸

KisanHub Raises a $1.5M Seed Led by Low Carbon Innovation Fund. Kisanhub is a UK-based agrifood supply chain management platform bringing farm-to-factory visibility to supply chains. New funding will help expand business in the UK and continental Europe, with an initial focus on fresh produce markets.

Autochek Raises $3.4M in Pre-Seed Funding Led by TLcom Capital and 4DX Ventures. Autochek Africa is an automotive tech development company building solutions aimed at enabling and enhancing commerce within the automotive sector. The startup will use the investment to grow operations in its Nigeria and Ghana markets, as well as furthering investments in technology and team growth.

Ride Vision $7M Series A Led by OurCrowd. Based in Israel, Ride Vision is a startup building an AI-driven safety system to prevent motorcycle collisions. A specific use of capital was not detailed.

Afresh Raises An Additional $13M Led by Food Retail Ventures. Afresh, a startup selling software to track demand and manage orders for fresh produce in grocery stores is now worth $100M. The new funding will accelerate the company’s growth in 2021.

Chooch.ai Raises $20M in Series A Funding Led by Vickers Venture Partners. Chooch.ai is a startup hoping to bring computer vision more broadly to companies to help them identify and tag elements at high speed. Chooch will use the fresh capital to add engineers, data scientists and begin to build out a worldwide sales team to continue to build the product and expand its go-to-market effort.

Forto Secures $50M Led by Inven Capital. Forto is a digital freight broker providing real-time data and on-time delivery to reduce administrative supply chain costs by 30%. New funding will accelerate the development of its supply chain management solutions by adding order management and value-added services.

Paack Raises $53M in Series C Funding Led by Bregal Milestone. Paack is a Barcelona-based eComm delivery startup aiming to be a leading provider of scheduled, next-day and same-day delivery solutions in Europe. The fresh funds will help Paack expand across Europe.

Loadsmart Raises $90M in Series C Funding Led by BlackRock. Loadsmart is a New York-based startup that leverages AI and hundreds of data sources to automate truckload booking. New capital will help further consolidate its one stop freight and logistics platform.

Inceptio Technology Raises $120M Led by CATL. Inceptio is a Chinese startup developing self-driving trucks. A specific use of capital was not detailed.

Gojek Raises $150M from Telkomsel. Gojek is an Indonesia-based ride-hailing services provider. The investment comes as an expansion of the Gojek and Telkomsel partnership that has offered data packages to Gojek driver-partners since 2018.

Home Depot Buys HD Supply for $8.7B. HD Supply is a wholesale distributor of electrical, plumbing, janitorial and other supplies with about 44 distribution centers in the US and Canada. The acquisition will accelerate Home Depot’s sales growth and add to earnings starting next fiscal year.

Company Building 🛠️

Negotiating with Sales: A Guide for Product Managers. I’ve found that PMs tend to be a great value-add in sales meetings- afterall, they are a steward of a customer-centric vision. That said, inside a business, they will need to manage dynamics between sales, engineering, and other organizations to get things done.

Data Organization in Spreadsheets. It only felt right sharing this one as an Excel junkie in an industry that’s dominated by spreadsheets. The beauty of Excel is that it’s ubiquitous and accessible which makes it the go-to analytical, organizational, and dare-I-say, MVP tool.

The First-Time Founder’s Guide to Learning Everything the Hard Way. “There’s a problem when you start a company when you’re 22, and the problem is that you don’t know anything.”

Who's Hiring? 👩‍💻

Principal Full Stack Engineer at Stord in Atlanta, GA.

Recruiting Lead at LEAF Logistics in New York, NY.

SDR at Zeelo in New York, NY (remote ok).

Check out other jobs at Dynamo portfolio companies.💥 Have you seen any interesting startups recently? Introduce us.❤️ We would love your support. Please forward to friends and share on social media.🗞️ If you were forwarded this and found it interesting, please sign up.🎙 Check out Dynamo's podcast series, The Future of Supply Chain.