Decarb Industry
Industrial systems produce about 30% of global emissions (IEA, WEF, UNIDO 2024). Yet most decarb capital still goes to power, EVs, and consumer climate tech. The biggest emissions engines are in factories, ports, logistics corridors, cement kilns, steel furnaces, quarries, refineries, desalination plants, and construction supply chains. These assets run on old processes with 20-50% optimisation gaps (McKinsey Industrial Energy Benchmark 2023).
POD 2: Decarb Industry
AI-native operating intelligence for industrial decarbonisation across logistics, materials, and asset-heavy infrastructure
Industrial Logistics Decarb
Routing & Ports
Low-Carbon Materials
Cement & Steel
Asset Longevity & Readiness
Corrosion & Durability
01Opening
Industrial decarbonisation is hiding in plain sight. The largest emissions sources are not future tech. They are the daily operating systems of heavy industry. Factories, corridors, kilns, furnaces, refineries, and ports still run with manual planning, partial telemetry, and static assumptions.
This creates a rare overlap of impact and economics. Even small efficiency gains stack into immediate profit, and emissions reductions follow. We are building for that overlap.
02The Problem
Industrial operators across logistics, materials, and asset-heavy infrastructure are constrained by low visibility and high waste.
- Global industrial logistics runs under 60% utilisation (World Bank LPI 2023).
- Cement and steel rely on clinker ratios 10-20% above best practice and high scrap variability (CSI 2023; IEA Steel Outlook 2024).
- GCC, SEA, and West Africa face corrosion rates 2-4× global averages (NACE; Gulf Infrastructure Lab 2023).
Most operators still depend on spreadsheets, siloed SCADA, manual routing, heuristic planning, and uneven inspection cycles. These systems cannot meet modern throughput, climate stress, or compliance needs.
03Observations: Why This Matters
04Core Beliefs
1.Optimisation beats hardware as the first decarb lever
Efficiency optimisation can deliver 20-40% emissions cuts while lowering costs, with some sectors reaching 60-80% (McKinsey 2023). Software-first intelligence is the fastest path to compliance and profit.
2.Emerging markets will define outcomes
Industrial growth is concentrated in GCC and SEA, where decision cycles are faster, ROI thresholds are higher, and greenfield capacity is expanding rapidly. These markets reward solutions that cut cost and emissions together.
3.Asset longevity is a decarb pathway
Predictive corrosion and durability modelling extend lifespan, reduce embodied carbon, and compound savings in regions with accelerated degradation.
05Investment Thesis
Non-Discretionary, Fast-ROI Budgets
Industrial decarb sits inside operations, maintenance, energy, and compliance budgets. Efficiency gains typically pay back in 90-180 days (McKinsey Benchmark; BNEF 2023).
Defensible Intelligence Layers
Moats come from operational telemetry, physics and materials models, long-cycle integrations, and agentic workflows that automate plant decisions. This creates 3-7 year lock-in (Siemens Senseye case, 2022).
Clear Exit Pull
OEMs, logistics majors, climate infra funds, and industrial software leaders pay premium multiples for operational intelligence layers with proven emissions impact. Recent signals include Siemens, Schneider, and Rockwell acquisitions in predictive maintenance, lifecycle digitisation, and industrial autonomy.
Risks and mitigations
Operator conservatism → insiders as Fellows, workflow-native product design
Fragmented data → sensor-light integration, fast pilots
Sales cycles → mandate-driven regions where timelines create urgency
Hardware bias → pure software avoids capex friction
06Opportunity Clusters
Master metrics: Emissions per ton or km ↓, energy intensity ↓, material waste ↓, asset lifespan ↑, opex per unit ↓.
07Sourcing Strategy
Founder Archetypes: Port and logistics managers, cement and steel process engineers, civil infra inspectors and corrosion specialists, manufacturing ops leaders. Each has insider pain, controls telemetry, and understands failure modes outsiders miss.
Partnerships: Ports and customs → corridor pilots. Materials labs and contractors → validation. Infra owners and sovereigns → asset-scale data. Manufacturing clusters → rapid deployment. Engagements are built around measurable cuts in emissions, waste, and lifecycle cost.
Regional Advantages: GCC: mandate-driven adoption, 3.6× industrial expansion, high deterioration rates, mega-projects. SEA: fast manufacturing growth, large capex buildout, high FDI inflows, tropical corrosion stress, Industry 4.0 support.
Technical ArchitectureVCIndustrial Decarb Value Chain
Complete technical flow from asset instrumentation to autonomous execution. Shows data transformations, system dependencies, model architecture, and the engineering reasoning behind each stage.
08Closing Vision
This Pod fits the Studio model: large non-discretionary inefficiencies, clear insider advantage, measurable ROI, sovereign relevance, and a narrow timing window.
While developed markets debate pathways, GCC and SEA are building industrial capacity at 2-3× the pace under tightening mandates. Rapid expansion plus climate stress and compliance deadlines creates a perfect storm for software-first decarb solutions.
The result is cleaner logistics, smarter materials, longer-lived infrastructure, and a region-leading industrial decarb portfolio. A rare space that is massive, structurally broken, technologically ready, and aligned with our regional edge.