5 Questions with Ironspring Ventures’ Ty Findley

Recently, NVNG added Ironspring Ventures to the portfolio. We were impressed by the firm’s history in legacy industry paired with venture investing, and their vision for the future of construction, manufacturing, transport & logistics, and alternative energy. We deeply value that this team of experienced investors and operators isn’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and work with their founders. Ty Findley, one of the firm’s founders, shared more with us about Ironspring, why they’re excited about the Midwest, and more.

Q: Can you tell us about Ironspring Ventures and the origin story/Ironspring’s superpowers?

TF: Ironspring Ventures is an early stage, sector focused venture capital firm specializing in digital industrial innovation. Based in Austin, TX, we lead early stage investments across four core sectors of focus: construction, manufacturing, transport & logistics, and alternative energy. The firm was founded in 2020 by myself, Peter J. Holt, and Adam Bridgman, bringing together a team with deep history in legacy industrial industries, and one with both venture investing and industrial operating expertise. That genuine “GP/Market Fit” we feel differentiates us when meeting with founders to earn the right to partner with them. We raised a $61M Fund I which we invested in 16 companies across our four focus sectors, and just last month we announced the close of our $100M Fund II (which has made seven investments to date, on the way to ~20 total investments). Our check sizes can range $2-4M, and we take a boots on the ground, roll up our sleeves approach to being hands on, high impact investors.

Our seven-person team is committed to partnering with world-class founders who are changing the way we design, build, distribute, and operate across the industrial supply chain, and our “superpower” is our sector-focused go to market expertise combined with a global network within industrials, which we believe adds differentiated value across our portfolio by leveraging our expansive network of premier industrial operating companies and subject matter experts. This allows us to help the companies we invest in access customers, pursue channel partners, tap into sector-specific strategic insights, and collaborate with other key advisors that accelerate commercial growth. As our sector expertise sets us apart in the venture ecosystem, we leverage it not only to support our portfolio companies, but also to open-source learning and insight that enables the ecosystem to grow and mature. Be sure to check out our thought leadership in our bi-weekly Nuts & Bolts newsletter and quarterly “The Blueprint” series in addition to Heavy Hitters: The Digital Industrial Podcast (now approaching 100 episodes!).

Q: Why are Ironspring and NVNG a good fit?

TF: Like Ironspring, NVNG as a Wisconsin-based investment firm has deep relationships across leading industrial businesses and a true appreciation for what these organizations value and how they operate. The NVNG team also brings rich experience as investment professionals who know how to work with venture funds and startups, and we feel that this combination of shared experience in the venture asset class, overlapping industrial networks, and values alignment make NVNG a strong partner for Ironspring. We admire the NVNG team’s best in class approach to curating and managing their portfolio and believe our respective networks are highly complementary to bridge together and activate collaboration. We look forward to being an active and engaged member of the NVNG community by helping NVNG stay connected to the forefront of industrial innovation as well interacting with the other stakeholders across the NVNG network.

Q: What is your take on the Midwest venture ecosystem and how Ironspring fits in?

TF: We’re bullish on the Midwest venture ecosystem and see tons of potential here, especially in our core sectors of focus given both our incredible alignment with the strong industrial base in the “Industrial Heartland” of the US and the rapidly growing tech community of talent. This part of the country really understands and respects heavy industry – and what it will take to catalyze change in legacy industries that are ripe for innovation and new ways of operating. Having spent many years here myself (5+ years in Chicago), I can speak firsthand to the power of industrial DNA rooted in the Midwest ecosystem combined with top talent to build new tech and companies. We’ve now invested in three companies based in the Midwest to get our boots in the dirt as active participants in building up this ecosystem, and we look forward to finding more innovators to partner with!

Q: Can you share some trends that you are seeing in venture capital within your thesis industry and stage?

TF: When I started investing in these industrial sectors (dating back even before Ironspring Ventures), few people were using the term ‘digital industrial innovation,’ and there was much less deployable capital focused on the areas we have deep expertise in and invest in. Today, the market has evolved and we welcome it – the capital markets have matured seeing strong financial returns posted in these sectors, growth capital has taken notice of the great potential of the businesses we invested in early on, and likely most important, we continue to see a flood of incredible talent launching new businesses to go after these massive industrial market opportunities.

Aligned to that, more and more VC generalist funds are looking at industrial innovation than ever before. Instead of seeing this as competition, we welcome the attention and additional capital into these industries. Almost on a weekly basis, I get calls from premier generalist funds looking to Ironspring for insight on and access to early stage industrial tech deals. Well known firms like General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, and Bain Capital Ventures, to name a few, have set up specific practice areas dedicated to industrial innovation given the sizeable opportunity they see here.

And just last month, speaking of momentum in the Midwest, I attended the Reindustrialize conference in Detroit, which attracted 600+ innovation ecosystem leaders to come together and dig in on what’s next for industrial tech. It was clear there is a massive wave of momentum around industrial innovation, and overall, just a real sense of pride in ensuring America’s industrial strength and resilience only strengthen in the decade ahead (USA USA USA!).  It’s a pretty special time to be a venture investor in industrial innovation, and Ironspring was out in front here.

Q: In your work at Ironspring, what are you most proud of?

TF: We’re really proud that, with the support of our amazing network of LPs (including NVNG!), we were able hit our $100M Fund II target in the current challenging fundraising environment. That said, what I’m most proud of, and what is always at the center of everything we do, are those founders out there risking it all to make an impact in these critical industrial sectors. We’re honored to have the opportunity to support the following innovators in Fund II as just a sample of those we’ve announced partnering with so far:

• Base Power (Alternative Energy): Modern power company delivering a home energy service powered by distributed batteries
• Cargado (Transportation & Logistics): Platform to modernize US-Mexico cross-border logistics
• GoodShip (Transportation & Logistics): All-in-one platform for freight network orchestration and procurement
• Wilya (Manufacturing): Software solution for managing closed skilled manufacturing and supply chain labor pools