Third Wave Automation: Why did we invest?
Heartland Ventures recently invested in Third Wave Automation. Why?
Forklifts are the most common means of moving materials in warehouses, manufacturing facilities, and other industrial spaces. But one in ten forklifts will be involved in an accident each year. These accidents result in costly injuries, lost workdays, and tragically, even deaths.
In the midst of a sustained e-commerce explosion — even pre-COVID — logistics environments are seeing unprecedented levels of activity. More movement means an increased need for smart, safe, and cost-effective forklifts. Yet forklift accidents continue to rise, mostly due to operator error. At the same time, skilled forklift operators remain hard to find and costly to train.
Heartland’s logistics, manufacturing, and CPG stakeholders have no way to increase their throughput without moving more goods around their facilities. Heartland Ventures viewed this as a call to action: find a material handling solution that can meaningfully improve safety and increase overall operational efficiency.
We are confident that Third Wave Automation’s technology, which operates forklifts autonomously, is the solution.
Third Wave combines deep learning research with modern robotics and software practices, all integrated with businesses’ existing warehouse management systems. This enables users to deliver site-specific vehicle navigation and infrastructure-free pallet handling that adapts to changing floor configurations and warehouse demand. Third Wave-powered forklifts allow a single operator to power 10 autonomous forklifts, all of which operate at the same pace as a manually-powered machine.
The company’s co-founders are the perfect team for the job. They all played senior roles at Google’s robotics group where they taught robots to learn and navigate the physical world. CEO and Co-founder, Arshan Poursohi, also led the engineering team at Toyota’s Research Institute, a leading global player in the safe autonomous vehicle world. His experience building world-class teams, securing necessary resources, and handling shifting priorities will be a tremendous asset in executing upon Third Wave’s ambitious operational goals.
This experience has already paid off. Arshan and the team already have a partnership with the leading North American forklift OEM, Raymond. They are also currently working through initial deployments at several major corporations including Ryder, Ross, Office Depot, Walmart, and Prologis. Heartland Ventures will now work to cement similar arrangements with some of our large LPs throughout the Midwest.
In this way, our Fund will again execute upon its strategy of providing Heartland stakeholders with early access to innovative solutions and thereby enable a portfolio company to work with aligned early adopters that are interested in providing critical feedback for continued optimization.
We are thrilled to work with Third Wave’s talented team and the exceptional group of investors including Eclipse, Innovation Endeavours, Homebrew, and Toyota AI Ventures, in changing the forklift, and eventually, the entire material handling world.
For more information, please visit Third Wave Automation.
