Robotics funding, first 2022 exit and more supply chain woes

Hi all!

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $175 million in investments for clean energy technology projects for 68 research and development projects.

Great to see our local Startups being awarded some dough aside from all the prominent educational institutions and labs around the country.

Eden GeoPower, a Greentown Labs company, walked away with $3.8M,

VEIR in Woburn, MA racked in $3.5M,

Sublime Systems, another Greentown Labs company, grabbed $3.6M, and

Cambridge's Copernic Catalysts got $3.6M.

Here is the list of all awardees.

The State of Manufacturing

There were some good indicators last month at the PMI Index. Several category Order indexes increased significantly.

We are quite interested in seeing next month's PMI update which we expect to be less bullish.

Orderbooks also saw a dip in many sectors.

The Ukrainian invasion by Russia does add more chaos to global supply chains. The first impacts can be seen on products like platinum, aluminum, sunflower oil, and steel, and shuttering factories in Europe, Ukraine, and Russia have sent energy prices soaring, further raising shipping costs.

The latest Covid lockdowns in China will further stress the current situation and drive shipping costs even higher. Container freight is 16x higher than two years ago. Makes you almost think current gas prices are a bargain.

Some real-time supply chain updates from our friends at EPE Components.

On the evening of March 13th, the government of Shenzhen, China, imposed a Covid -19 lockdown.

ST Micro, GIS, Foxconn, Avary, Taiflex Electronics, King Core, and Asia Vital Components are some of the manufacturing firms announcing a shutdown.

C&K is impacted by current Covid restrictions in Vietnam and will be forced to postpone a significant number of orders.

Western Digital has announced a 10% price increase, possibly effective next quarter.

Lastly, a massive power shortage in Taiwan on March 3^rd is leading Microchip & NXP to reassess their positions concerning manufacturing and deliveries. 

Boston-area startups raised $1.12 billion in February.

Good news on the robotics side, two former NPA's Startups to Watch raised $191 million.

Local Cleantech also had a great month, bringing in $121M in new funding.

If you are into Life Science startups, Harvard Innovation Labs announced the 18 ventures that are based in the Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab to start in 2022. Check the full list here.

If you haven't noticed yet, FORGE at Greentown Labs has kicked it up several notches in 2022.

They added additional staff, opened new offices, and now offer even more workshops and sessions to help startups succeed. Check them out!

If you are ready to meet folks face to face again, come join us for the Cleantech Open Kick-off Event at Greentown Labs on March 22nd.

We'll be there and we are sure this will be a great evening.

Aura adds former Snap executive Lara Sweet to the board of directors.

They were also awarded grants from the Innovation Institute of MassTech Collaborative to further advance their digital radar technology. Congrats!

Boston Materials has been selected as a Global Cleantech 100 company by Cleantech Group.

GenH was announced as a 2022 Edison Award Finalist. Congratulations! See the complete list of finalists here.

Kohler Co. acquired Heila Technologies to expand its clean energy offering.

Seurat raised a Series B round of $21M. The 3D metal printing company will use this funding to develop its production-grade system.

In our February survey, we asked if you engage with Cryptocurrency or invest in it and why.

The results showed that 26% of our readers don't invest and won't do it in the future, while 22% do invest, as they consider it the financial way of the future.

As office doors are starting to get open again, companies are studying if the hybrid office model is the new normal.

The first-ever NFT gallery opens in Boston.

Pellas Gallery replaced the usual photographs and paintings with digital screens and animated images.

The exhibition will run through April 23, 2022. Find more information here.

Meet the woman who builds the world’s most unique Airbnbs. Kristie Wolfe has built off-grid hobbit holes, treehouses, and potato-shaped abodes. EnjoyAReal-LifeHobbitHole (Source: The Hustle)

At NPA, we leave no stone unturned to make sure our customers have component supply to launch/ship their products during these challenging times. We went all the way to Everest Base Camp to see if anyone had a stache worth buying.

Do some good today and hit the follow button on our LinkedIn page, we'd love to hit the 1k mark soon!

Sign up HERE