Dynamo Dispatch. 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 💭

With the FDA approving the Pfizer COVID vaccine over the weekend, we’re now entering a 6-12 month period where supply chain professionals take over. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime event that parallels any logistical effort on record. Thank you to the scientists and logisticians who are powering this effort.

We Are Dynamo,

Santosh, Ted, Barry, Jon, and William

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Supply Chain 📦

Pfizer COVID Vaccine Now Being Distributed. Following emergency authorization, local, regional, and state supply chains prepare for the mass immunization set to take place. Dubbed Operation Warp Speed, tests began over the summer with distribution partners to help the government grasp companies’ capacity and distribution networks. Tests consisted of weekly exercises to help practice the distribution of the vaccine with partners including McKesson, FedEx, and UPS. Detailing it further, Speaking of vaccine distribution, UPS Confident It Can Handle Vaccine Distribution, Holidays Volumes while UPS and FedEx “Split Country in Two” to Coordinate Vaccine Delivery.

CBRE Predicts Holiday Sales Will Generate $70B+ In Returns. The continued eComm inundation leads CBRE to forecast 40% growth in online retail sales translating to $235B in sales and nearly $71B in returns. Once severely constricted, 3PL capacities are slightly easing as retailers stand to benefit from expanded supply chain networks. While the returns process is logistically complex and can often lead to unnecessary waste, retailers are elongating return windows and increasing drop-off locations through 3PL partnerships to efficiently move and manage returns. As the holidays near, Carriers Hit Capacity Ceilings and Dynamo portfolio company, nextmv Launches Cloud Product in-part, to help optimize last mile networks.

A New Electronic BL Standard from the DCSA. Tasked with advancing digitalization of container shipping industry tech standards, the DCSA jumpstarts its eDocumentation initiative. New standards are aimed to coordinate acceptance and adoption of an electronic bill of lading (eBL) by regulators, banks, and insurers and to harmonize communication between these organizations and customers, carriers, and all other stakeholders involved in a transaction. Elsewhere in maritime, Ports Seek $3.5B in Federal Relief Funding.

Walmart Commits to Tripling Indian Exports. Walmart announced plans to expand its global reach of goods from India by tripling exports over the next 7 years. India already exists as one of Walmart's key sourcing markets, exporting over $3B per year. The Bentonville-based retailer will develop new suppliers in key Indian export categories such as food, pharmaceuticals, consumables, health and wellness, and contributing to the region's ascent as a burgeoning manufacturing hub. Also related to global trade, the US Dollar Remains the Reserve Currency of Choice.

New Technology Helping Fleets Remotely Manage Equipment. There’s no doubt 2020 will be coined as the year of remote work enablement. Emerging innovations around fuel tax collection, remote training, improving 3G device connectivity, and remote inspections play a major role in both state and federal regulatory agencies continuing their duties in a safe and efficient manner.

🌟The Amazon Third Party Seller Ecosystem. Nearly $200B of sales are expected to be transacted through the Amazon FBA marketplace and that number could hit $400B by 2023. Amazon third-party sellers find success due to their compounding comment and review moat, high 20%+ net margins, and variable cost P&Ls. As the ecosystem continues to grow and experience adoption, many of these businesses are raising institutional capital to help scale operations, creating a new type of eComm business likely to upend traditional small business models.

An Innovative Way to Prevent Adversarial Supplier Relationships. Relationships between suppliers and companies face tensions as the needs of one often take precedence over the other. Companies are taking a fresh approach to preventing deteriorating relationships between the parties by instituting a formal relational contract that helps both stakeholders address challenges in a collaborative fashion. The legally enforceable contract documents shared goals and objectives and lay out how the parties will sift through issues as they arise. Related, Managing Commercial Invoices featuring Dynamo portfolio company, Vector AI.

Mobility 🚗

QuantumScape Says Battery Capable of Charging 80% in 15 Minutes. Backed by VW, QuantumScape claims its solid-state batteries enable 80% longer range than traditional Li-Ion batteries. Data also illustrates an elongated battery life and operability at extreme temperatures. The breakthrough comes as 2020 proves to be a monumental year for electrification amid a plethora of joint EV development partnerships. In 2018, VW partnered with QuantumScape to build batteries and will now prepare to ramp production. Speaking of QuantumSpace and their SPAC’d friends, Performance Data from Evercore.

Why Travelers Believe Airports are Safer Than Aircraft. Data shows consumer confidence in flying is at an all-time low driven by the perceived risks around airports and airlines (COVID context). Travelers perceive the airport experience to be safer than spending time in an aircraft given enhanced screening and testing measures, a contactless experience, and an overall more active role in preventing the spread of the virus than airlines.Staying in the sky, Understanding Flag Carriers.

🌟Toyota Nears Production On its First Battery Electric SUV. Toyota takes the first step towards its goal to sell 5.5M EVs per year by unveiling its first battery electric SUV. The automaker once held the aspiration of selling 16M hybrid vehicles, but has since pivoted toward an all-electric future. Furthermore, Toyota expects to integrate its own fast-charging solid state battery technology in vehicles by the mid 2020’s. Toyota also plans to Unveil An EV With A Solid-State Battery Capable of 10-Min Chargingwhile Classic Car Enthusiasts are Paying Big Bucks to Electrify their Cars.

BMW Partners With Amazon On Data Hub to Boost Efficiency. A new hub will leverage artificial intelligence to predict customer demand for BMW vehicles, enabling the automaker to accurately procure parts, comply with regulations, and automatically check manufacturing design requirements. Automakers are seeking technology powering informed data-driven decisions to make procurement and manufacturing processes more efficient. Last week, Blackberry launched a similar cloud-based platform helping automakers standardize supplier data.

The Auto Industry’s First Production-Ready 4D Imaging Radar for AVs. Radar implementations gain steam as it becomes the preferred choice of automakers seeking accurate object identification/classification and the improvement of latitude resolution. Xilinx and Continental’s collaboration will enable vehicles equipped with the ARS540 to realize SAE J3016 Level 2 capabilities and actively lay a foundation for Level 5 autonomy.

Amazon/Zoox Robotaxi Seen in the Wild. Following an acquisition by Amazon earlier this year, the Zoox robotaxi is expected to be unveiled on Dec 14. The vehicle is capable of operating the same in either direction given it has no reverse function. Amazon’s Jeff Wilke said, “Zoox is working to imagine, invent, and design a world-class autonomous ride-hailing experience”, putting Zoox in direct competition with Uber and Lyft. Related Cruise Deploys its Robotaxi in The Bay.

COVID Impacts On Micromobility in the UK. As consumers shied away from shared mobility, retailers report 60% growth in bike sales since March, with eBike sales more than doubling. Cycling adoption reached highs of 250% above pre-COVID levels and broadened its market share from 16.5% of the population to 18%, equating to an extra 1M cyclists on the streets. Some London neighborhoods rid cars, Paving Way for School Streets.

Fundraises and M&A 💸

Recurrent Raises a $3.5M Seed Led by Wireframe Ventures. Launched back in September, Recurrent is the first company to offer third-party reports on battery life and range of used electric vehicles to help car buyers with their purchase decision. Funds will help to invest in continued product development as it builds third-party condition reports for used electric vehicle shoppers and battery analytics stats for current electric vehicle owners.

Honda Leads $15M Series A Into eComm Platform, Modal. Modal operates a digital commerce platform enabling global auto brands and dealers to serve customers with transparent digital commerce, that fits into their own website and showroom experiences. Fresh funding will serve to scale Modal's team to develop new eComm tech and further streamline the online transaction and ownership experience, including finance, insurance, contract and service buying.

Mech-Mind Robotics Raises $15M for Series B. Mech-Mind Robotics is a startup developing artificial intelligence for industrial robots. The new capital will go toward accelerating the commercialization of its technology and global marketing, as well as expanding its business capacity.

Shippit Raises $22M in Series B Funding Led by Tiger Global. Shippit works directly with retailers to support multiple delivery options at checkout and to automate fulfillment and returns. Capital will help expand in Southeast Asia and grow the engineering team for its Sydney development hub.

Finn.auto Raises a $24.2M Series A Led by White Star Capital. Finn.auto offers all-inclusive, immediately available, monthly car-subscriptions allowing people to subscribe to their car instead of owning it, and offset their CO₂ emissions. Fresh capital will help Finn expand its range of EVs and support regional climate protection and development projects.

Gorillas Raises $44M in Series A Funding Led by Coatue. Based in Berlin, Gorillas is an on-demand grocery delivery startup capable of delivering groceries at retail prices in 10 minutes. The new funding will be used for expansion across Germany and will accelerate its rollout in Amsterdam.

Hyundai Acquires Boston Dynamics for $1B. Boston Dynamics builds advanced mobile manipulation robots with precise mobility, dexterity perception, and agility. It’s uncertain how Boston Dynamics will fit into Hyundai, but the acquisition makes Hyundai the third owner of Boston Dynamics in seven years.

Uber ATG Sells to Aurora. Aurora is an autonomous vehicle startup backed by Sequoia, Amazon, and others. The sale of Uber’s self-driving unit will now value Aurora at $10B as Uber takes a 26% stake in the combined company.

Uber Offloads its Flying Taxi Business. The acquisition of Uber Elevate will enable Joby Aviation to offer air taxi lifts through Uber's app as soon as 2023. Uber also agreed to invest $75M in Joby as a part of the transaction. Joby's ultimate ambition is to provide short rides in urban areas through the deployment of vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.

DoorDash IPO Begins Trading. The food delivery startup began trading on the NYSE Wednesday and shares closed up more than 85% in their debut.

Company Building 🛠️

Frank Slootman on Performance Culture. An interview with Snowflake CEO on building a high-performance culture without burning people out. A great addition to your holiday “must watch” list.

Running Impactful Virtual Offsites. Several of our portfolio companies have done or want to do a virtual offsite for management. Some great tips herein.

Earnest. Paul Graham on “earnestness” and the key traits of high-potential founders.

Who's Hiring? 👩‍💻

ML Engineer at Vector AI in London, UK.

Senior Software Engineer, Backend & API at Vizion in Atlanta, GA (remote ok).

Salesforce Developer at Skupos in Denver, CO.

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.