Series B funding led by Decarbonization Partners will support Guidewheel in scaling its AI-powered FactoryOps platform to empower the world’s factories to cost-effectively drive both financial and sustainability goals

August 13, 2024 04:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Guidewheel, the leader in AI-powered FactoryOps, raised an oversubscribed $31 million Series B funding round led by Decarbonization Partners, a partnership between BlackRock and Temasek. Ecolab, Rethink Impact, and GSBackers also participated in this round, alongside existing investors Greycroft and Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), among others.

Guidewheel provides the first way to bring AI to the factory floor at scale—every machine, in every factory. Inspired by the universal truth that every machine on the factory floor uses power, Guidewheel starts with non-invasive sensors that simply clip like a smartwatch on the power draw of any machine to bring its real-time “heartbeat” into a connected, AI-powered FactoryOps platform. Guidewheel empowers teams to reduce lost production time, increase efficiency, and enhance performance over time, delivering fast, concrete ROI through its technology, with customers reporting an average of 41% more production from their existing assets.¹ Within the same FactoryOps platform, Guidewheel builds in all the tools manufacturers need to track and manage energy and carbon towards sustainability goals.

“A new industrial revolution is taking place that will reshape not only manufacturing processes, but entire business models—and the importance of manufacturing has never been clearer,” said Lauren Dunford, Co-founder and CEO of Guidewheel. “Equipment in factories often lasts for decades, and a significant number of machines are not yet even connected to the cloud. Historically, the only available solutions have been cost-prohibitive and require specialized skills. Guidewheel changes that by providing a fast, scalable solution that minimizes operational disruption to swiftly connect all machines—across all ages, makes, and models—at a fraction of the cost of competitive solutions.”

“We’re excited to support Guidewheel not just because their technology solves an important problem for manufacturers, but because they’ve found a way to build sustainability into the core of manufacturing operations,” said Dr. Meghan Sharp, Global Head and Chief Investment Officer of Decarbonization Partners. “By using Guidewheel to help manage their factory operations, customers can not only improve efficiency and reduce costs, but also reduce energy consumption and emissions.”

“We’re thrilled to partner with Decarbonization Partners and all of our amazing investors to supercharge our growth,” added Dunford. “This financing allows us to further accelerate product development, scale our AI team, and invest even more in Customer Success to support our rapidly growing customer base. We’re one step closer to empowering the world’s ten million factories to reach sustainable peak performance.”

Guidewheel is rapidly releasing new features on top of its core platform, designed to be easy for customers and developers to build on. Recent new releases include Scout, an AI-powered predictive maintenance solution that detects early warning signs of issues before they cause downtime, quality defects, or catastrophic failure. Already, Scout is driving bottom-line impact for Guidewheel customers, including a Fortune 500 auto manufacturer who averted an issue that would have brought down a line for hours, and a manufacturer of consumer durables who was able to prevent failure of key auxiliary equipment before it caused a plant-wide shut down.

Guidewheel’s recent momentum has been marked by acquiring some of the world’s leading manufacturers as customers, including General Motors, Igloo, Kimberly Clark, JELD-WEN, DRiV/Tenneco, CEMIX, TricorBraun, Reliance Steel & Aluminum, Madison Industries, BorgWarner, U.S. Steel, Berry Global, Myers Industries, and Johnson & Johnson.

“Guidewheel requires no programming and no advanced computer knowledge, but its reports and data are sophisticated and useful,” shared Jim Campbell, CEO of Guidewheel customer Automated Solutions in North Carolina, “I don’t think another tool like this exists where remote, centralized support provides all the technical expertise required.”

“Reaching net zero starts with how we build things. We believe Guidewheel can play a critical role in global industrial decarbonization by enabling manufacturers to better track and manage energy use,” said Carmichael Roberts, Breakthrough Energy Ventures. “Guidewheel is empowering factories globally to reach sustainable peak performance, and the company’s continued growth is a testament to the technology and the team behind it.”

To learn more about Guidewheel, visit www.guidewheel.com.

About Guidewheel
Guidewheel is on a mission to empower all the world’s factories to reach sustainable peak performance. Its AI-powered FactoryOps platform makes the power of the cloud accessible to any factory. Guidewheel clips onto any machine to turn its real-time “heartbeat” into a connected, active learning system that empowers teams to reduce lost production time, increase efficiency, and perform better and better over time. A global software company founded out of Stanford, Guidewheel is backed by top investors including Greycroft, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and Decarbonization Partners, was named a Tech Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, and works with hundreds of manufacturers across the globe.

About Decarbonization Partners
Decarbonization Partners is a joint venture between Temasek and BlackRock focused on late-stage venture capital and early growth private equity investing in next-generation companies that provide solutions and technologies to help accelerate global efforts to achieve a net zero global economy by 2050. Decarbonization Partners combines Temasek and BlackRock’s complementary platforms and expertise in sourcing and underwriting private investments, portfolio and risk management, and sustainable technology and analytics. Decarbonization Partners invests in a wide range of companies that have proven technology and need capital to scale. The partnership attracted $1.40bn in capital from a diverse set of over 30 institutional investors across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

¹ Third party survey by UserEvidence. Link: uevi.co/5213IUNF.

Contacts

Media

Guidewheel
Lucas Goldman
+1 781-697-4644
lucasg@guidewheel.com

Decarbonization Partners
Christopher Beattie
+1 646 231-8518
christopher.beattie@blackrock.com

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