Lindsay Luger

I'm pleased to share that Lightrock has continued to support Thomas Doering and Distribusion Technologies in their $80 million Series C funding round. Distribusion is the leading global B2B ground transportation marketplace, addressing inefficiencies in this €700 billion market. The industry’s progress has been hindered by legacy technology, making multi-modal travel planning and booking difficult and time-consuming. This increases costs for consumers and negatively impacts sustainability as travellers opt for private cars and taxis over less polluting transportation options. Using a single API, Distribusion connects transport carriers like National Express LLC, Amtrak, and Deutsche Bahn with retailers such as Expedia Group, Google Maps, and Alipay. This allows consumers to seamlessly compare and purchase tickets on trusted platforms. There's a high likelihood that Distribusion has facilitated your travel without you knowing it. We led the company's Series B in 2022, and since then Distribusion has grown tenfold, creating the largest global B2B network of ground transport operators. This growth, combined with achieving profitability, has encouraged us to reinvest and continue with this company on this exciting journey. We look forward to continuing our work with this team. Learn more about #Distribusion via the link in the comments. #TravelTech #FutureOfTravel

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We are thrilled to have partnered with Axle Energy from the very beginning, recognizing their exceptional vision and dedication to integrating Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) into the grid. 🚗 🔌 ⚡ We are now beyond excited to announce our continued investment with Picus Capital in their $9M USD round led by Accel. Big congrats to the team around Karl and Archy - it’s a continued pleasure working with you! We keep being excited about Axle Energy’s potential: 1️⃣ 𝗥𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗚𝗿𝗶𝗱:  Axle Energy is at the forefront of the transition to renewables, which are increasingly vital as electricity demands rise and grids become strained by intermittent energy sources. With aging infrastructure unable to meet new peak demands, solutions like axle are required to provide a cost-effective alternative to traditional grid upgrades - virtual vs. physical wires. 2️⃣ 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 (𝗗𝗘𝗥𝘀):  The rise of electric vehicles, home batteries, and smart energy systems is creating new opportunities and challenges. Axle makes such assets benefit the overall system ultimately unlockig their potential while delivering value back to the owners and users of such DERs. 3️⃣ 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆:  Making the grid more resilient and ultimately greener involves the participation in various mechanisms that reward flexibility of resources; accessing these markets, qualifying asset for them and providing the required optimization logic is crucial to enable value. axle navigates that complexities. 4️⃣ 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:  Over the past 14 months, the axle team has demonstrated exceptional focus and execution, connecting over 15,000 flexible assets to energy markets and securing partnerships with major OEMs. We were impressed by Karl’s and Archy’s vision from the very first moment onwards and are excited seeing them delivering on it. This is just the beginning. As energy markets evolve, Axle will play a crucial role in creating a sustainable, resilient energy future. We are excited to continue supporting them on this journey. Many good things are on the horizon! TechCrunch post and 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘄𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 in the comments #RenewableEnergy #DER #SustainableFuture Sebastian Schaefer, Zhenya Loginov, Cecilia Wang, Eka Ventures, Hamish Law, Jon Coker, Amit Gudka, Sierra Peterson, Hanno Renner, Nico Rosberg, Ben James, Hebat Choudhury, Pelle Jacobs, timothée H., Haraman Johal, George Garforth, PhD, John Newbery, Lewis Jones

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Proud Investor Alert! Congratulations to itselectric Tiya Gordon Nathan L. King on raising $6.5M to expand operations and accelerate curbside EV charging across seven US cities in 2024. This fresh funding will bring itselectric’s affordable and accessible EV infrastructure to some of the densest urban areas in the country with key deployments directly supporting Uber’s goal of helping rideshare drivers go electric. itselectric’s chargers are installed and maintained at no cost to cities, utilities, or property owners and help build the infrastructure that will allow gas cars to be replaced with EVs. Halogen Ventures Jesse Draper Ashley Balla Adriana Gadala-Maria Ochi Jessica Robertson The bonus: property owners earn passive income – aligning climate action with urban living, making cleaner, greener cities a reality 🌿🔌 Read more by Irina Ivanova at Fortune Magazine on post attached. #EVCharging #ClimateAction #goelectric #driveelectric

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Grid modernization is a massive theme for the next decade! There is no question that technology adoption and data management will be paramount. Informative blog post here from Taylor Mason at GoPoint Ventures. #energyefficient #smartgrid #sustainability #innovation #venturecapital #climatetech #future #datamining #automation #ai @buzzsolutions

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My friend Raj Mistry of Sunya produces straight fire in all things energy transition news. Not surprised that practically every major energy company C-suite reads the Sunya Scoop every week. Was excited to provide our quick thoughts at 8090 Industries on our latest investment in Exowatt - a company making energy for $0.01 per kWh, and available 24 hours a day for commercial and industrial customers. "At 8090 Industries, we have long been active in standing up and fortifying new, paradigm shifting forms of baseload renewable power. However, the boom in generative AI has catapulted the energy demand needed to power our data centers. In response, we are thrilled to be an investor in Exowatt led by Hannan P. as it pioneers a new reality towards energy that costs $0.01 per kWh, and is available 24 hours a day. Exowatt’s 3-in-one modular system delivers baseload renewable power, industrial-grade heat and energy storage that can be dispatched and deployed to a wide range of commercial, industrial applications and sites. The company already has a backlog of demand for over 500 MW to power data centers across the U.S. and plans to begin deployments later this year."

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🚀 While the world grapples with access to baseload energy for compute, we've been proud to watch 8090 Industries portfolio founders Hannan P. and Jack Abraham of Exowatt quietly build. 🤯 Today, Exowatt unleashes a new dawn for the energy industry with unveiling P3s - with the ability to generate electricity at scale at just a $0.04 LCOE and with entirely baseload renewable tech. That’s lower than the cost of most fossil fuels and doesn’t account for subsidies. The company has already amassed a 1.2 GW backlog, worth $Billions from mega tech hyperscalers, energy giants and data center companies. Renewable energy can power the data centers of the AI era, and Exowatt founders Jack Abraham and Hannan P. are building that future. We're honored to be backing Exowatt alongside Sam Altman, Andreessen Horowitz, Felicis, Atomic, Overmatch Ventures and Climate Capital. Read more about their launch today here: https://lnkd.in/gZDKZdk8 cc Kerem Ozmen Wes Mendenhall Filip Vurdelja Haluk Sabanci Dincer Grant Brown Ishan Meswani Garuth A. Andrew Irwin Shilpa Patel

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Last week Peak Energy announced its $55M oversubscribed series A, which Xora Innovation led, joined by lead seed investor Eclipse (Greg Reichow, Ryan Gibson), as well as TDK Ventures (Anil Achyuta), TechEnergy Ventures (Alejandro Solé), Doral Energy-Tech Ventures (Roee Furman), Lachy Groom, and Tishman Speyer (David Aron). Special thanks to 🌱🤝🌍 Anil Achyuta for the original introduction.   Peak is commercializing a new standard in grid-scale energy storage systems based on sodium-ion batteries. Peak’s market is benefiting from the twin tailwinds of renewables and AI, and the company has just the right founding team to scale at "ludicrous speed".   Landon Mossburg, Co-Founder and CEO, is one of the most phenomenal team builders we have had the privilege of backing. He brings deep experience in building battery gigafactories from his prior role as Chief Automation Officer of Northvolt, where he didn’t shy away from sleeping on factory floors for months in Northern Europe.   We have a special place in our hearts for entrepreneurs who have the grit to spend 10 years+ building deep tech startups from the foundational stage to commercialization. Cameron Dales, Co-Founder, President and Chief Commercial Officer, has done it not only once, but twice, at Symyx Technologies and Enovix (current market cap $2.65B).   Liam O'Connor O’Connor, Co-Founder and COO, previously scaled major portions of Tesla’s and Apple’s supply chains, flying over 500,000 miles a year when required. Liam has a deep understanding of what it takes to build resilient supply chains in hypergrowth mode, having previously scaled from <$5B to $40B in spend over a matter of a few years.   The climate tech sector is in need of more entrepreneurs who truly understand what building on a massive industrial scale means. We couldn’t be more excited that Landon, Cam and Liam have decided to apply their talents to enabling grid-scale energy storage.

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Time to build more generation capacity. Concurrently lets start rewiring our grid pathways with next-gen conductor materials. Worst case is we add amazing new generation (ie nuclear) to meet new peak demand levels but the grid cant support. And we are still not able to meet demand.

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Fun session with Silas Mähner 🔍🌎 Hopefully non controversial takes on how we think about adaptation and resilience Third Sphere. Also weighed in on thinking about engagement with Big Oil. Absolutely not possible to generalize here. TLDR on one end of the spectrum is Norway, generating substantial GDP from oil, but leading the way across multiple climate efforts, like EVs and heatpumps. On the other end are some state actors that have worked to undermine organizations like COP and sew broader chaos, very, very likely as a way to shift resources away from energy transition (likely very, very hard to spend on defense and green transition at the same time in the US and EU, for example).

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Series A or B wondering when to bring in a VP of Finance or CFO? It’s a crucial decision that can shape the future of your company. At this stage, financial leadership is not just about managing numbers but also scaling processes, securing funding, and driving strategic growth. My colleague Paul breaks down key signs that it’s time to hire and indicators for choosing between VP of Finance and a CFO #FinanceLeadership #CFO #StartupGrowth #SeriesA #SeriesB #NextGenLeadership

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PE - Superior Returns via Operating Partners Interesting data from Alvarez & Marsal - I noticed this in a post on X/Twitter by an Institutional LP: 1x additional turn on IRR & MOIC when a PE Operating Partner is helping the portfolio company grow capital efficiently. #pe #privateequity #value

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Smartsheet has entered a definitive agreement to be acquired by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners for $8.4 billion in an all-cash deal. Smartsheet shareholders will receive $56.50 per share, representing a 41% premium over the 90-day average share price. The transaction is expected to close by the end of January 2025, subject to regulatory approvals and shareholder agreement. After the deal, Smartsheet will become privately held, continuing operations under its brand. There is a 45-day "go-shop" period allowing alternative proposals. Here are a few thoughts: Blackstone and Vista bring extensive experience in tech, positioning Smartsheet for accelerated global expansion. High valuation shows continued private equity interest in software companies, especially those with strong SaaS models. As a private company, Smartsheet may gain flexibility for product innovation and restructuring without quarterly public market pressures. The 45-day "go-shop" could lead to other high-profile bidders, signaling competitive interest in enterprise work management solutions. This acquisition could drive consolidation in the collaborative work software market, setting a trend for future acquisitions. #privateequity #deals #dealflow

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As we continue to invest in exciting healthcare growth companies and think about the Future of Healthcare we have been included in this GIIN/FT overview of impact investors - acknowledging the fact that our focus on building healthcare infrastructure and local manufacturing of medical products creates tremendous impact.

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It's interesting to see how valuation trends have shifted, especially the decline in up rounds this year. This data is crucial for founders and investors to set realistic expectations in a tougher fundraising climate. Understanding these trends can really help in planning for the future! 👏

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#orion #Sweetwater_Royalties Orion Resource Partners, a global investment firm specialising in metals and materials, has sold an 8% minority interest in Sweetwater Royalties, a private industrial minerals royalty company, to a Canadian pension fund for $100m. The transaction implies an approximately $1.9bn enterprise value for 100% of Sweetwater Royalties, with Orion retaining a 67% majority ownership share in the asset, having sold a 25% stake to Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in March 2023 for approximately $220m. https://lnkd.in/gkKMP3Tr

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It’s BOD & AGM season. After 9 BOD meetings and 7 AGMs there is a common theme. “Generally” Emerging Fund 1&2 managers w/o firm building experience; and Founders/ELTs who raised pre-seed generalist and family office party rounds at Seed or crossover/hedge fund capital at Series A. Same general dynamic… experience matters. #venturecapital #emergingmanagers #startups #familyoffices #lps

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Amazing stat on how much more energy we’ll need in the next few years: - Each NVIDIA H100 takes 2kw of power = average American house hold - There were 500k sold last quarter - That’s almost a San Francisco worth of new power needed in just ONE QUARTER alone - And we are projected to grow exponentially Fusion can’t come fast enough but for the next 20-30 years we’ll need other solutions. Thoughts?

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PE - AI & Scarcity of Software Engineers Robert F. Smith of Vista Equity compared the scarcity of software engineers to resources rarer than gold, underscoring their high demand. However, today AI's growing ability to write code will transform Tech PE by accelerating software development and creation. Key impacts include: • More scalable software • Improved code quality • Shift in developer roles • Faster development cycles • Reduced development costs • Faster innovation and prototyping • Custom solutions for larger customers • Risk mitigation with AI-assisted debugging • Competitive advantage for early AI adopters • Lower barriers for scaling software development AI will amplify developer productivity, not replace them, and PE firms integrating AI into portfolio workflows can unlock the next wave of growth. ------------------ #pe #privateequity #investing #ai

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The PE industry is placing a greater emphasis on enhancing the value of portfolio companies by improving their operations—or at least, that’s the message many GPs are trying to convey to their LPs. Check out our insights and articles at HMN Capital and accelerate your portfolio performance. https://lnkd.in/gxnnjKDS https://hmn-capital.com/ #hmncapital #acceleratingportfolioperformance #privateequity #investments #finance #venturecapital #growthcapital #executivesearch #privateequityrecruitment #privateequityjobsearch #privateequitylinkedin #Linkedin #privateequitycareers

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