Still, early-stage rounds accounted for nearly half of all deals in the quarter. This points to continued investor interest in emerging tech solutions focused on optimizing product development and reducing costs as companies grapple with ongoing supply chain disruptions.

Using CB Insights data, we assess the advanced manufacturing tech landscape in Q1’23, including:

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ESG in investing is the general approach of putting money into companies, funds, and projects that adopt environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles. It’s a framework for investors to identify opportunities and mitigate financial risks, with the ultimate goal of generating higher returns.

Asset and investment managers now feel mounting pressures concerning the accuracy, biases, performance, and even political motivations of ESG. The dramatic rise and fall of corporate interest in ESG can be seen in recent company earnings call mentions of the term.

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In response, BP has committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. While it recently rolled back some of its end-of-decade emission reduction targets and shared it would invest up to $8B in oil and gas projects by the same year, it also reaffirmed its net-zero pledge and stated that it would allocate up to $8B in additional capital for its greener segments, like biogas.

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While lots of retailers are currently struggling to figure out last-mile logistics, players who have been investing in the space for a while are moving their focus to areas like the middle mile (the leg before goods reach fulfillment centers) and intralogistics (the movement of goods within fulfillment centers).

Seeing an opportunity, Amazon is pairing its AWS cloud computing capabilities with extensive e-commerce logistics to create a suite of supply chain offerings for small to midsize businesses. It has even been extending these services beyond its marketplace clients with solutions like “Buy with Prime” which allows brands to offer Prime’s delivery speed, package tracking, and return logistics on their own e-commerce sites.

Doing so not only creates additional revenue for Amazon but also helps it optimize its own supply chains with fuller freight loads and more efficient operations. 

In this report, we break down Amazon’s strategy in the supply chain across 3 key takeaways: 

• Amazon is automating intralogistics. With Amazon’s enormous warehouse footprint, a dizzying number of offered products, and millions of packages shipped every week, automating intralogistics is key to driving e-commerce profitability for the tech giant. 
• Amazon wants to revitalize the middle mile. Amazon has been ramping up its middle mile capabilities with new products and investments in freight management and air cargo. In doing so, the tech giant is looking to capitalize on an often overlooked leg of the supply chain. 
• Amazon is betting on sustainable mobility. Amazon has taken some big swings in the electric vehicle market, striking deals to purchase fleets of vehicles and investing billions of dollars. 

Amazon is automating intralogistics

Intralogistics involves the movement of information and goods within individual fulfillment or distribution centers. 

A key enabler of Amazon Prime’s quick delivery speed is the company’s extensive network of fulfillment centers. And with over 1,100 centers in the US alone and a reportedly extremely high employee turnover rate in warehouses, Amazon is keen to automate intralogistics as much as possible. 

Amazon is one of the top players for supply chain patents, with many of its filings related to automating intralogistics processes like mapping the footprints of fulfillment centers for efficiency or detecting inventory levels.

In 2022, the tech giant introduced new intralogistics robots named Sparrow and Cardinal. Currently, these robots are designed to sort packages, move goods throughout the fulfillment center, and pick goods of different shapes, sizes, and materials (an area existing picking robots have difficulty with). 

Amazon has also made moves outside of its internal robotics development, such as: 

• Acquiring intralogistics robot maker Cloostermans in Q3’22 to boost its robot research and deployment. 
• Announcing its warehouse & distribution network in Q3’22. This is a pay-as-you-go service offering inventory management within Amazon fulfillment centers and automated distribution for sellers.
• Expanding its warehouse footprint by investing in smaller fulfillment centers — situated near major population centers and stocked with in-demand items — to enable same-day deliveries for some of its goods. 

While Amazon has been ramping up its offerings and investments in this space over the last few years, the tech giant has recently conducted the largest layoff in its history and has closed or abandoned plans for dozens of warehouses. Given the increased focus on cost control, the success of its automation bets could be more important than ever.

Amazon wants to revitalize the middle mile

The middle mile is the leg of the supply chain where goods are brought from distribution centers to fulfillment centers. This leg can include ocean, air, and ground freight. While the middle mile has traditionally been outsourced, it has recently received more attention as squeezed supply chains have made headlines for costing retailers millions of dollars in profit. 

A successful middle mile is also crucial to last-mile operations to ensure fulfillment centers have goods in time to meet the ever-shorter delivery timeframes promised to customers.

Amazon has a distinct advantage in providing middle-mile services to retailers as it has already invested heavily in its own freight technology to make Prime shipping possible. Also, with Amazon Web Services’ cloud computing capabilities, the tech giant has high visibility into logistics — a key component of successful middle-mile operations. 

Building on this, Amazon offers Amazon Freight which allows retailers to book space on its freight trucks for thousands of routes across the US. Amazon uses algorithms to determine which vehicles are operating at LTL (less than load) to offer discounted shipping rates to retailers. 

Amazon has also made strategic moves with air cargo. Previously, the e-commerce retailer relied entirely on contracts with UPS and FedEx. But in the last few years, Amazon began to shift its strategy and in 2021 opened a $1.5B air hub in Kentucky to have more ownership over its middle mile. 

Additionally, Amazon has struck several deals for minority stake investments and strategic partnerships in this area, including: 

• A minority stake in Air Transport Services Group, an aircraft leasing and air cargo transport provider, in Q2’21
• A minority stake in Hawaiian Airlines to operate 10 airbus freight plans starting in fall 2023
• A partnership with Azul Cargo Express in Q4’22 to expand its delivery reach in Brazil
• A partnership with India-based Quikjet Cargo in Q1’23 to expand its reach in India

Amazon has been operating these planes under the brand Amazon Air which has expanded rapidly since its inception in 2015. With air cargo’s high barrier to entry both from a regulatory and capital standpoint, expect Amazon to begin creating additional revenue streams from its investments similar to what it has done with Amazon Freight. 

Amazon is betting on sustainable mobility

Fuel costs account for around 15% of last-mile expenses and volatile fuel prices can sometimes push this proportion even higher. However, it’s estimated that using electric last-mile vehicles can reduce fuel costs by more than half — attracting interest from big fleet operators. 

Amazon (which has a 2040 net-zero emissions goal) has already made significant moves to electrify its delivery fleet and has made some big bets on sustainable mobility, including: 

• Backing California-based EV maker Rivian and pledging to order 100,000 delivery vehicles from the company. Amazon has reportedly delivered 10M+ packages with Rivian EVs.
  
• A commitment to deploy 10,000 electric delivery vehicles in India and entering into partnerships with India-based companies (Tata Motors, Mahindra Electric, Magenta Mobility, and TVS Motor) to produce those EVs. 
• Amazon is also still wanting to deploy battery-powered delivery drones under its Prime Air program, which has already made some test deliveries in California and Texas. However, this division has been heavily affected by the Q1’23 layoffs. 

Source: Amazon

With Amazon shipping well over a million packages a day, meaningful progress toward sustainable mobility could have a big impact. However, even with its carbon reduction efforts, Amazon’s total emissions grew by 18% in 2021 as demand for its services went up — signaling that the company will need to make additional investments in making its supply chain more sustainable to hit its net-zero goal by 2040.

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Under pressure from consumers and investors, more and more companies are announcing goals of reaching net-zero carbon output. Meanwhile, earnings call discussions mentioning sustainability topics have become much more common in the last few years.

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Thanks to these new technologies, carbon emissions from the electric power sector in the US have fallen by almost a third in the past decade or so. This occurred despite a similar amount of electricity generation and no increase in the inflation-adjusted real price of electricity.

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However, the company’s recent rebrand from Total to TotalEnergies reflects a change in strategy to include more sustainable business segments. As part of the transition, the company is focused on vehicle electrification (both the infrastructure and charging solutions to optimize the flow of energy) as well as EV battery tech. 

<span data-sheets-value='{"1":2,"2":"<div class="cbi-cta-shortcode-wrapper"><div class="cbi-cta-shortcode-content"></div><div class="cbi-cta-shortcode-forms" ><div class="cta has-desktop"><div class="cta-desktop center-copy "><h4>Get the free unbundling tesla report</h4>
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Oil & gas giants Shell and BP, for example, aim to reach net-zero by 2050. Carbon offset technology could help. 

Carbon offsets are designed to counteract a company’s emissions by investing in projects that reduce greenhouse gasses, such as reforestation and regenerative farming. The space is growing rapidly — carbon offset tech startups raised over $700M in 2022, up over 600% from 2021. Corporates are also increasingly discussing the solutions on earnings calls.

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The company’s bulk-produced, flat-packed, self-assembly furniture helps cut costs for the retailer via economies of scale and efficient use of shelf space. While the low prices are attractive to consumers, some critics perceive the company as a “fast furniture” brand selling borderline disposable products.

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For example, those focused on reducing the cost of the last mile can discover relevant tech solutions in our last-mile market map, understand where delivery leaders like DoorDash are making strategic bets, and get an idea of what last-mile delivery might look like in 2030.

Our predictions for the upcoming year include:

• As retailers continue to invest in their own supply chain operations, we expect to see them increasingly experiment with new retail formats that position brick-and-mortar locations for distribution and fulfillment. Retailers that are early movers in supply chain investments could tap into B2B services as an additional revenue stream. 
• CPG brands will invest more heavily to scale their sustainability efforts — such as those related to production and waste management  — to meet previously set benchmarks, regulatory frameworks, and consumer demands. 
• With supply chain security top of mind, big tech companies will leverage their expansive data lakes to provide B2B offerings that make the supply chain more connected, efficient, and traceable.

To kick off 2023, we brought together our top supply chain & logistics research in the curated list below.

RETAIL

• [Client Research] Tech Market Map Report — Supply Chain Optimization In Retail
• Unbundling SHEIN: How fast fashion is being disrupted
• [Client Research] How American Eagle and Gap are entering the third-party logistics space
• [Client Research] Analyzing Walmart’s growth strategy: How the retail giant is building e-commerce and boosting profits
• [Client Research] Unbundling Sephora: How the beauty retail experience is being disrupted
• [Client Research] Analyzing Alibaba’s growth strategy: How the tech giant is reimagining retail to drive its global ambitions
• [Client Research] Market Trend Report: Delivery Management Software for Retailers

FOOD & GROCERY

• [Client Research] Tech Market Map Report: Supply Chain Optimization in Grocery
• [Client Research] MVP Technology Framework: Supply Chain Optimization for Grocery Retailers
• The Future of the Supermarket: How technology is making grocery shopping more personalized, efficient, and sustainable
• [Client Research] 40+ early-stage companies transforming food & beverage product development and distribution
• [Client Research] Analyzing Carrefour’s growth strategy: How the retailer is digitizing its operations to improve profitability
• [Client Research] What this $37B grocery giant is doing to optimize its inventory management
• [Client Research] Analyzing Ocado’s growth strategy: How the grocery tech giant is shaping the future of the supermarket
• [Client Research] What are Walmart, Kroger, and Albertsons doing in microfulfillment?
• The Future of Fast Food: How robot chefs, virtual ordering, and autonomous delivery will feed us in 2030

SUSTAINABILITY

• [Client Research] Analyzing PepsiCo’s growth strategy: How the CPG giant is improving supply chain sustainability and reducing emissions
• [Client Research] Tech Market Map Report: Sustainability in the Supply Chain for Retailers
• [Client Research] 13 technologies making the supply chain more sustainable — and the ones that retailers should prioritize now
• [Client Research] 107 companies helping advanced manufacturers make their operations more sustainable
• [Client Research] 88 companies reducing food waste across the supply chain
• [Client Research] Analyzing Nestlé’s growth strategy: How the company is prioritizing health & sustainability across its portfolio
• [Client Research] Analyzing Danone’s Growth Strategy: How the CPG giant is creating a more sustainable food supply chain
• [Client Research] Analyzing Unilever’s growth strategy: How the CPG giant is doubling down on sustainability and digital transformation

LAST-MILE FULFILLMENT 

• The Future of Last-Mile Delivery: How technology is tackling the complexity and cost of fulfillment
• [Client Research] 60+ early-stage companies reshaping food & meal delivery
• [Client Research] 218 companies helping retail leaders make last-mile operations faster, cheaper, and more efficient
• [Client Research] Analyzing DoorDash’s operational strategy: How the delivery leader is investing in local commerce
• How restaurants can reduce reliance on gig workers using autonomous delivery

FLEET & FREIGHT MANAGEMENT

• [Client Research] Unbundling Maersk: How one of the world’s largest shipping companies is being disrupted
• [Client Research] The Future of the Fleet: How technology is making transporting freight more efficient and sustainable
• [Client Research] Tech Market Map Report: Fleet & Freight Optimization in Retail
• [Client Research] MVP Technology Framework: Fleet & Freight Optimization for Retail
• [Client Research] Analyzing Amazon’s growth strategy: How the tech giant is shaping the future of transportation and logistics
• [Client Research] Analyzing Ryder’s growth strategy: How the transportation giant is becoming a leader in supply chain & logistics tech 

The post Our top supply chain & logistics research and trends to watch appeared first on CB Insights Research.

After 2022’s countless shake-ups, many are hoping that the new year will usher in a renewed sense of dynamism — and maybe even optimism — in the tech world as “the new normal” shifts once again.

If nothing else, the coming year will certainly prove that nothing in tech stays the same for long.

Markets will continue to shift profoundly as tech players adapt to a landscape where economic uncertainty looms large. But, at the same time, many spaces won’t appear to slow down at all as remarkable advances emerge at a rapid clip.

Using the CB Insights technology intelligence platform, we analyzed signals like investment activity, executive chatter in earnings transcripts, media mentions, patents, and more to identify the top 11 tech trends to watch in 2023.

Our 59-page report digs into trends like:

• Fintech startups adapt on the fly to contend with formidable market conditions
• Incumbents move to lock in consumers with super app-level platforms
• Ambient health monitoring will make it easier than ever to keep tabs on patients
• Virtual power plants take off as more homes produce their own electricity
• Tech will help regenerative agriculture become the new organic
• Women’s health tech companies turn their attention to menopause

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• Autonomous tractors capable of tilling, plowing, and fertilizing fields without a human operator in the tractor cabin  
• Connected farm platforms that will allow farm operators to remotely track and manage operations 
• Agricultural drones that can map, spray, and spread across fields and orchards autonomously
• Harvesting robots that have the ability to carefully pick and transport produce
• Automated weed control, which consists of robots that can identify and then remove or treat weeds in fields 
• Soil optimization tech that allows farm operators to understand their soil at a granular level, analyze how to optimize yields, and measure carbon storage in soil 
• Crop biologicals that deploy natural means to treat and protect crops 

Below, we dive into these technologies: how they work, who has an edge, and how they’re shaping the farms of the future.

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In the future, fast food restaurants will have adapted their store layouts to rely exclusively on robotic food preparation to cook menu items. Robots will work in sync to fill orders, account for customer substitutions, and communicate with autonomous delivery vehicles to quickly bring customers fresh, accurate orders.

This is one of the key technologies that will shape the future of the fast food experience. Below, we dive into this technology: how it works, who has an edge, and how it’s changing the future of fast food.

WHAT IS THE ROBOTIC FOOD PREPARATION?

Robotic food preparation hardware companies develop robotic systems that leverage AI and machine learning to cook, assemble, and package meals. Cooking robots can cook food more consistently and with fewer errors (like over or undercooking), leading to less waste and higher customer satisfaction. Some can be retrofitted to existing kitchens, while others are stand-alone machines.

FIRST MOVERS

Over the past year, Miso Robotics has racked up a significant number of partnerships with national quick-service restaurant chains like Chipotle, White Castle, and Buffalo Wild Wings to automate cooking foods like tortilla chips, burgers, and chicken wings. In Q4’21, the company raised a $35M Series D round, bringing its total funding to $66M.

Source: Miso Robotics

While US brands have significantly ramped up on these partnerships in the last 12 months, cooking robots have already seen significant activity in regions like Asia. For instance, in 2020, KFC partnered with Hyundai Robotics in Korea to develop robot chefs.

To dig deeper into this market landscape and connect directly with vendors, CB Insights clients can check out the Automation in Restaurant Tech Expert Collection and interactive Market Map. 

IMPLICATIONS 

• While initial investments in these solutions can be expensive, national quick-service restaurant chains have begun significant partnerships and testing, paving the way for lower costs in the future. Leaders like Miso Robotics are looking to cut the cost of robots by a third to roughly $20K per robot.
• Restaurants that are looking to test robotic food preparation without fully investing in buying robotics should consider startups that offer Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) models. In many cases, the cost per hour is cheaper than a part-time employee.
• Robotic food preparation tech for performing a simple repetitive task efficiently, like flipping burgers or manning fryers, has seen the widest adoption in the space. Restaurants should think strategically about how robotic food preparation can be used in their current menus or how new menu items can be created to prioritize these preparation methods.
• Robotic food preparation can help reduce food waste. Because these robots reduce human error, like burning food or cross-contamination, they also help with margins by reducing food waste and enabling more standardized quality control across locations.

Read more in this report about how tech will shape the future of fast food, including:

• The metaverse, which will become an extension of the brand experience
• AI tongues and social listening to help brands quickly develop and test new menu items to meet changing consumer demands
• Conversational AI and AI recommendation engines will power online and in-store orders, allowing restaurants to upsell orders through personalized suggestions and prioritize labor for other customer service operations 
• Autonomous delivery will help reduce reliance on gig workers
• NFT loyalty programs will create unique experiences and boost customer loyalty

The post How restaurants can increase profitability and reduce food waste using robotic food preparation appeared first on CB Insights Research.

To relieve this pricing pressure, food producers are turning to precision agriculture technologies — like aerial imagery analysis captured by drones and laser-weeding robots — to improve yields, reduce input costs, and alleviate labor shortages. 

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But as governments implement stricter environmental regulations and consumer demand for “green” products continues to rise, manufacturers around the world are also placing more emphasis on sustainability.

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This is an even greater challenge as customers have grown accustomed to the free and fast shipping options used by the likes of Amazon, Walmart, and Alibaba to lure shoppers. 

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• Drone- and robot-based exploration to reduce capital costs and time to production
• Nanosatellite monitoring to reduce ongoing operation & maintenance costs
• Aerial gas leak detection to detect and address methane emissions
• Carbon source capture to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions
• Geothermal wells to increase oil field productivity and sustainability

Below, we dive into these technologies: how they work, who has an edge, and how they’re shaping the future of upstream oil & gas.

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In addition to its flagship reinsurance unit, which comprises subsidiaries like specialty insurer Hartford Steam Boiler (HSB), the company has a primary insurance unit (ERGO), a standalone asset management arm, and a corporate venture capital arm (Munich Re Ventures).

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In 2021, John Deere’s revenues reached $44B, up 24% year-over-year — with the company saying that its tech shift was a key driver of its results.

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Precision agriculture technology can benefit these farm operators — and their food and beverage (F&B) counterparts, like Pepsi Co. — in a number of ways. Not only do solutions in this space give way to improved yields and reduced chemical usage/runoff, but they can also help mitigate labor shortages. 

Additionally, by enabling farm operators to reduce fertilizer and chemical usage, drive operational efficiencies, and spur increased regenerative agriculture practices, these technologies could also significantly help corporations working with operators meet their own ambitious net-zero goals – particularly companies like Tyson and Nestlé.

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With pressure from regulators, governments, and investors to cut emissions, the company is working to position itself as a leader in the global transition to clean energy.

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The company is not only committed to decarbonizing the transportation industry with battery-electric vehicles, it’s also looking to disrupt the traditional automotive business model. Tesla launched the first D2C automotive retail model, reshaping the car-buying experience for consumers and setting it apart from automotive OEMs that sell through franchised dealerships. 

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