Praemo, a Kitchener, Ontario-based provider of artificial intelligence-enabled solutions for industrial operations, has secured C$4.5 million in follow-on financing. McRock Capital increased its investment as part of the round. Caterpillar Venture Capital and BDC Capital’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund also invested.
PRESS RELEASE
Kitchener, Ontario–(October 9, 2020) – McRock iNFund LP, an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) venture capital fund managed by McRock Capital, announced today it has increased its investment in Kitchener based Praemo Inc., an innovative prescriptive analytics company that provides AI-based solutions for industrial operations. Caterpillar Venture Capital Inc. and BDC Capital Inc.’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund co-invested in this financing.
Praemo’s Razor™ technology harnesses the power of machine learning to provide prescriptive insights to dramatically improve productivity, safety and quality in industrial operations. Praemo combinesits unique expertise in industrial asset and process performance management with data science to deliver learned machine behaviour which automatically generates actionable recommendations in real-time.
“We are excited to be working with Caterpillar Venture Capital Inc. and BDC Capital Inc.’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund, and to expand our relationship with McRock. This group of investors speaks to the value Praemo brings to industrial operators; McRock as a leader in the industrial IoT technology space, BDC Capital as a key shareholder providing the capital needed to drive this next wave of advancement, and Caterpillar Venture Capital Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, engines, turbines and locomotives.”, said Michael Martinez, co-founder and CEO at Praemo. “This additional funding allows us to accelerate our technology roadmap while sharing our customers’ successes more broadly across the industrial marketplace.”
“Praemo not only identifies real-time machine anomalies, but even more importantly, sends prescriptive alerts so that the appropriate preventative action can be quickly taken”,said Whitney Rockley, Co-founder and Managing Partner at McRock. This capability is catching the attention of large industrial operators like Caterpillar that are looking for a solution that does more than just tell them they have a problem developing. It also tells them how to best fix that emerging problem”, said Whitney Rockley who continues to serve as the Chair of Praemo’s Board of Directors.
“Caterpillar Venture Capital’s investment illustrates a recognition that prescriptive analytics will play an integral role in the growth of Caterpillar’s services business,” said Michael Young, Vice President of Caterpillar Venture Capital Inc.
“Praemo has managed to distinguish itself from other industrial IoT players in the field in part because, the company developed the RazorTM engine based on many years of toiling in the Industrial asset operations vertical. They were quick to leverage lean asset management strategies, which allow for a quicker time to value”, said Joe Regan, Managing Partner, Industrial Innovation Venture Fund at BDC Capital.
“Combining this with machine learning, Razor™ is helping operators to drive true, sustainable operations, through real time actionable insights”, said Aditya Aggarwal, Principal with the Industrial Innovation Venture Fund which will be an observer on Praemo’s Board of Directors.
About Praemo —
Praemo is creating a future without disruptions by quickly extracting value hidden in industrial IoT and production data organizations already have and turning it into actionable insights without consuming the bandwidth of operations or data science teams. Founded by industry experts, Razor™ was developed utilizing real-world experiences, and leverages Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning to provide a non-intrusive solution for our customers – an AI-Mentor looking for any opportunity to improve performance. For more information, please visit Praemo.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
About McRock Capital —
McRock is the first dedicated Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) venture capital fund manager focused on the intersection of sensors and software in large industrial markets and smart cities. The McRock team has a unique background of building high-growth venture-backed IIoT companies while also having worked in the power, water, oil and gas industries. McRock is backed by several leading institutional investors and global corporations including Cisco Systems, Caterpillar, Shell, Mitsubishi, AspenTech and Électricité de France (EDF). For more information, visit McRockCapital.com and follow on Twitter @McRockCapital.
About Caterpillar Venture Capital Inc. —
Caterpillar Venture Capital Inc. assists entrepreneurs around the world to grow and scale their businesses to build today for a better tomorrow by leveraging Caterpillar’s industry expertise, supply base and independent dealer network. Caterpillar Venture Capital’s focus areas of investment include robotics, energy, advanced materials, and digital solutions that help its customers be successful. Caterpillar Venture Capital is a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. For more information, visit Caterpillar Ventures.
About BDC Capital Inc. —
BDC Capital is the investment arm of BDC- Canada’s only bank devoted exclusively to entrepreneurs. With over $3 billion under management, BDC Capital serves as a strategic Caterpillar: Confidential Green partner to the country’s most innovative firms. It offers a full spectrum of risk capital, from seed investments to transition capital, supporting Canadian entrepreneurs who wish to scale their businesses into global champions. Visit bdc.ca/capital.
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