Esteban shares how he defines “underserved” economic sectors, why he created the fund to back those founders who are redefining those overlooked industries, what specifically he is looking to evaluate at the earliest stages of investment, what the unique aspects of investing in underserved LATAM sectors are, and he shares his current outlook on what it takes to be an emerging manager in today's competitive VC landscape.

Alex Moazed, CEO of Applico, explains the role of B2B distributors in the supply chain and why he advocates for digital transformation within the industry. He discusses his playbook for driving innovation in distributor ecosystems and how business models have evolved over the last decade.

Sujeet details the history behind industrial automation software and hardware (hint: PLCs have been around since 1969!), how he defines “3 levels” within the industrial automation s/w stack that are driving convergence between OT and IT environments, what it takes to build a scalable and repeatable go-to-market engine when selling industrial automation innovation, and finally a macro zoom-out as to where he sees US domestic manufacturing capabilities headed to become more intelligent, hyper-connected, and highly automated. 

Kaushal shares the context of ‘why’ one of the world’s premier general contractors has taken innovation so seriously since its founding, how that innovation focus led to standing up their corporate venture capital efforts at WND Ventures, how DPR has defined a highly structured process for engaging external innovation start-to-finish (key: align internal and external incentive alignment early), and “What’s Hot and What’s Hype” currently in the builtworld ecosystem. 

Ben shares an outlook on what’s going on in the growth stage ecosystem given the current market reset (spoiler: lots of capital still to deploy and they remain active), dives into how that reset is impacting the industrial innovation sector now and going forward, what he is evaluating growth stage companies on, and how his team at GS Growth harnesses the vast, global resources of Goldman Sachs to add value back into the companies they invest behind. 

Karen explains how the Chicago Columbian Exposition spurred on the 2nd industrial revolution and inspired the launch of her firm, why there has been such an explosion of venture capital interest and investment in digital industrial innovation over the last decade, what will be required of both the public and private US ecosystems to accelerate the current manufacturing revitalization underway, and finally a chat on “What’s Hot and What’s Hype” for digital industrial innovation. 

Dennis shares how a lifetime dedicated to aerospace innovation led him to co-founding New Vista Capital as his next chapter after Boeing, what the transferable lessons learned are that bridge from running one of the world’s largest industrial companies to early-stage innovation, what he sees as accelerating market trends behind the firm’s aerospace and national security thematic focus areas, and why maintaining US competitiveness in manufacturing is currently one of the greatest challenges and opportunities facing the US in the decades ahead (a matter of national security). 

Jim shares the origin story of Toyota Ventures and how the firm leverages its $500M AUM to discover what's next for Toyota, how having a broad investment thesis beyond just core automotive and mobility helps avoid the innovators dilemma, what he is looking for in robotic-enabled innovation and the associated challenges and opportunities that come with those business models, and how having a dedicated Climate Fund is supporting Toyota’s goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.   

Sam shares how the convergence of data, compute, and advanced engineering is leading to their thesis of “The Super Evolution”, how that thesis is intersecting and driving impact into industrial sectors, what the 4 key trends are that she is seeing develop behind tailwinds in industrials, and why she thinks of climate tech as a “persistent, horizontal underlying trend in nearly every space we touch”. 

Katie shares The Engine’s definition of and approach to Tough Tech investing, her thoughts on why the Tough Tech category has shown fundraising resilience during a challenging time for the broader venture market, details how the firm drives value to their portfolio via both public and private sector partnership networks (stat: for every $1 raised from The Engine, raised another $1.22 from the public sector), and how The Engine has chosen tools and frameworks that enable the firm to quantify and deliver on its deep commitment to having a positive impact on the world.