Ecolab
Canvas Category OEM : Chemical
Assembly Line
Guidewheel raises $31M Series B to scale AI-powered FactoryOps across factory floors globally
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. Within the same FactoryOps platform, Guidewheel builds in all the tools manufacturers need to track and manage energy and carbon towards sustainability goals.
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.
Leucine reaps $7M in series A funds to advance AI digital twin platform for manufacturing
Leucine reeled in $7 million in series A funding that will be used scale up its AI-generated digital twin platform designed to help drug manufacturers more easily navigate the complex landscape of regulatory compliance. The funding round was led by Ecolab with participation from existing investors Pravega Ventures, Axilor Ventures and Techstars.
The New York City-based company, which was founded in 2019, is focused on using digital twins in its Compliance Cloud platform to alleviate drug development workflow bottlenecks caused by paper-based records and legacy systems.
Paptic Ltd raises EUR 23 million in financing to accelerate the development of packaging materials
Paptic Ltd, a growth company manufacturing wood fibre-based packaging materials, has announced the raising of EUR 23 million in growth financing. The company’s shareholder base was expanded with new strategic partners and international equity investors: a German venture capital fund European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF) and a global water and hygiene solutions company Ecolab. Also, some of the company’s earlier shareholders, such as Japanese trade house Itochu Fibre Ltd., participated in this financing round. Besides the above-mentioned equity investments, Paptic was granted EUR 2.5 million by the European Innovation Council’s Accelerator program.
The growth financing will support the development of the company’s product portfolio, production partnerships, and the availability of Paptic materials globally. The financing will also accelerate the industrial scale-up of Paptic’s foam-based manufacturing technology. Furthermore, the investment in growth supports the company’s target for carbon neutrality by 2030.