I am excited to share that our portfolio company US based AssetWatch has just raised a $75M Series C led by Viking Global Investors, with participation from Harmonic GrowthPartners and continued support from early investors such as Wellington Management and G2 Venture Partners. Press release here.
I was the lead investor in four successive financings, starting at pre-seed. I even travelled Europe and the Middle-East with the founding CEO Will Zell when they got started.
AssetWatch is now the fastest-growing condition monitoring business in the US. The company serves hundreds of manufacturing organizations and protects tens of thousands of assets globally, helping big industrial clients prevent unplanned downtime and cut costs with AI-powered diagnostics,
This video provides a good introduction to the solution:
Here is why it matters:
Unplanned downtime is a trillion-dollar annual problem for manufacturers, presenting a significant market opportunity for AssetWatch. Manufacturers in the United States alone lose 5% to 20% of productivity every year due to unplanned downtime, with equipment breakdowns (e.g., bearing, motor, and pump failure) being the leading cause. This can represent tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in lost income and is a key aspect of bottom-line profit.
Currently, the most common solution for maintenance is the “run to failure” or the “break/fix” model, where the machine or equipment breaks down unexpectedly. A team of technicians and mechanics is then sent out to investigate and hopefully repair the fault. This represents around 60% of machine monitoring maintenance today.
The other main solution is “routine/periodic maintenance,” where the machine undergoes inspection on a scheduled basis to check if all is in order. The problem with this is that often the machines are in good working order and don’t require maintenance, wasting time and money for both the technicians and the company, or the inspections are not frequent enough, resulting in machines breaking down between routine maintenance. Routine maintenance can also miss areas of potential failure, representing around 30% of machine monitoring maintenance.
This is where AssetWatch comes in. The company installs wireless sensors, commercially called “Vero”, on machines quickly and easily. The vibration and temperature sensors send data multiple times per day to the customer dashboard, providing early insight into bearing, motor, gearbox, and pump failure to give advance notice of potential issues. Today, more than 90% of installed manufacturing equipment lacks sensors that can predict those failures. The company aims to change that and help its customers avoid both unplanned downtime and costly breakdowns.
The opportunity is massive for Asset Watch in what is becoming a multi billion dollar industry
We’re proud to support this mission and look forward to the next phase of growth.