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- Scheduled Shipment #890
Happy Friday.
Toyota cemented its commitment to technology innovation with $1.5 billion in new funds across two of its CVCs: Woven Capital and Toyota Invention Partners Co. The parent company has backed some serious manufacturing and robotics players such as Machina Labs, Nuro, and Foretellix. CVCs used to be thought of as less desirable capital but companies like Toyota are rapidly challenging perception with participation in numerous high profile rounds.
$424 million raised across 7 startups.
Let’s dig in.
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Top News
Toyota’s venture arms Woven Capital and Toyota Invention Partners Co. raise $1.5 billion in new funds.
The billion-dollar infrastructure deals powering the AI boom.
Trump sets 25% tariff on imported heavy-duty trucks.
Reindustrialization is the wrong starting point.
You don’t build supply chains out of nostalgia. You build them to meet overwhelming demand. Demand so large the old system can’t keep up. Everything else is downstream of that.
You can guide how that demand is met, shape the
— Andrew McCalip (@andrewmccalip)
3:17 AM • Oct 2, 2025
Make America Make Again
There are really four major manufacturing clusters in USA.
• North East Corridor
• Rust Belt
• LA
• Texas TriangleIn manufacturing there are clustering and network effects where proximity is an advantage.
You have to physically move things
— Object Zero (@Object_Zero_)
10:54 AM • Oct 1, 2025
Two categories we’re most excited about in robotics @a16z:
- vertical businesses that are deploying robots themselves to do something better, and can capture the value directly, eg in manufacturing (@HadrianInc) or Mining (@MarianaMinerals)
- horizontal businesses that build
— Erin Price-Wright (@espricewright)
8:12 PM • Sep 30, 2025
Massive Fundings
Periodic Labs, a new San Francisco, CA startup that provides an AI science platform, raised a $300.0 million Seed led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from DST, Nvidia, Accel, Elad Gil, Jeff Dean, Eric Schmidt, and Jeff Bezos. More here.
Einride, a 9-year-old Stockholm, Sweden startup that produces autonomous trucks, raised a $100.0 million financing led by EQT Ventures with participation from IonQ. More here.
Mid-Size Fundings
Doorstep, a 2-year-old New York, NY startup that provides a delivery drop off visibility platform, raised an $8.0 million Seed led by Canaan Partners with participation from Antler, Cercano Management, Cassius, and Sean Henry. More here.
Holy Technologies, a 3-year-old Hamburg, Germany startup that provides an autonomous factory for lightweight components, raised a $5.0 million financing from Rockstart, Vanagon, SANDS, Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg, EIT Manufacturing, Adrian Locher, Matthias Dantone, Christian Vollmann, Markus Kerkhoff, Kai Müller, and Timm Moll. More here.
Smaller Fundings
Helios AI, a 3-year-old Washington DC startup that provides a food supply chain management platform, raised a $4.7 million Seed led by Collide Capital with participation from S&P Global Ventures, Stray Dog Capital, Angeles VC, Equity Alliance, and Supply Change Capital. More here.
Pillar, a 2025-founded Milan, Italy startup that provides a financial automation platform for construction companies, raised a $3.8 million Pre-Seed led by Emblem with participation from Pareto, Plug and Play, Kima Ventures, B Heroes, Vento, Eden Ventures, and IAG. More here.
Burnt, a 3-year-old San Francisco, CA startup that provides AI agents for food distributors, raised a $2.8 million Seed led by PennyJar Capital with participation from Scribble Ventures, Formation VC, and Dan Scheinman. More here.
Thanks for Reading!
-Greg
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