Sign up for our popular daily email to catch all the latest EV news!
TechNexus Venture Collaborative is a dynamic investment and innovation platform that builds and scales high-growth businesses by bridging corporate capital, startup ecosystems, and industry transformation. Through corporate joint ventures, venture capital funds, and hands-on venture building, the firm unlocks new markets, accelerates growth, and creates lasting value for corporations, investors, and founders alike.
By partnering with leading corporations, TechNexus has invested in a range of electrification startups like medium-duty EV startup Harbinger Motors; electric RV startup Lightship; H3X, maker of electric motors for aerospace, defense, marine, and other heavy industries; BoxPower, which makes solar microgrids, and Wild, a company which makes a self-propelled electric trailer platform.
We spoke with TechNexus co-founder and General Partner Fred Hoch on how TechNexus works with large corporations and fast-growing startups to fuel electrification innovation.
Can you give an overview of TechNexus and how you work with corporations and startups?
TechNexus Venture Collaborative launched in 2007 as a physical collaboration space for Chicago’s technology entrepreneurs. What began as a clubhouse for innovators eventually expanded into a first-of-its-kind Venture Collaborative that helps leading corporations invest in ambitious startups around the world.
Through corporate joint ventures, venture capital funds, and hands-on venture building, TechNexus unlocks new markets, accelerates growth, and creates lasting value for corporations, investors, and founders alike. Since 2017, TechNexus has made over 200 venture investments.
TechNexus invests in a variety of industries where there is strategic alignment with our corporate partners. In addition to electrification, our current themes include audio and voice technology, artificial intelligence/machine learning, B2B software, outdoor recreation, and more.
With two decades of experience connecting startups and large corporations, we discovered that the traditional corporate venture capital industry needed an upgrade. And that upgrade is a venture collaborative approach where value is equally and truly derived both strategically and financially.
TechNexus has a unique model of connecting corporations with startups. How should established companies approach partnerships with electrification startups to maximize innovation and strategic advantage?
Electrification is not an “if”, it’s a “when”. Leaders in manufacturing are preparing for this change, and many are working with TechNexus to invest in emerging technologies all across the value chain. Corporations that don’t invest in this space now will be left behind.
Our corporate partnerships with some of the largest, industry-leading OEMs in Automotive, RVs, Marine, and Powersports have given us a holistic viewpoint to invest across the entire electrification value chain. There are two major aspects to successfully building an e-mobility investment strategy. First, investing in early-stage ventures upstream builds lasting relationships with key innovators, provides insight into crucial supply chains, and helps qualify for subsidies and meet regulatory standards. Second, investing downstream ensures these e-mobility products have the range, ease of use, infrastructure, and adoption required to advance the entire sector forward. In the sections below, we segment these parts of the value chain into six distinct categories. Understanding how these categories interact can be the difference between a successful product launch and years of wasted internal R&D.
TechNexus recently unveiled its inaugural Electrifrication 50, a list of promising electrification startups across the U.S. What does this report tell us about the state of electrification innovation?
Startups have launched electrification solutions across a range of industries — spanning everything from construction equipment and heavy industry; to recreational powersports including boats and RVs; and more. From your home appliances to your neighborhood delivery truck, companies are building electrification solutions to power the world around us.
The Electrification 50 gives a look at some of these promising U.S. startups that are transforming the way we move and operate. Companies on our list include Harbinger, which makes specialty and commercial EV trucks and recently unveiled the world’s first hybrid RV alongside THOR Industries, and Revoy, a road freight electrification company that offers hybrid-electric solutions for semi-trucks.
The Electrification 50 showcases the scope of electrification innovation in the U.S. today.
What are the common pitfalls corporations encounter when working with electrification startups, and how can they be avoided?
Established corporations often operate on long-term planning cycles, while startups move at a rapid, iterative pace. This difference can lead to frustration when corporations expect immediate, scalable solutions, and startups struggle with lengthy procurement or decision-making processes. Additionally, siloed communication and a lack of knowledge sharing can hinder collaboration. Corporations may struggle to integrate the startup’s technology into their existing systems, and startups may lack the industry-specific knowledge to tailor their solutions effectively.
This is where TechNexus comes in. We’re able to work hand-in-hand with both the corporation and the startup, helping the two effectively communicate and collaborate. We work to bridge this gap by facilitating connections, and aiding in the navigation of potential pitfalls. We help corporations create a framework that allows for rapid innovation while mitigating the risks, and we help startups understand the corporate landscape to increase their chances of successful partnerships.
Given the rapid pace of innovation in the EV sector, how can corporations stay ahead of the curve and identify promising startups early on?
For corporations, your most serious competitor may be the one you don’t see coming. For decades, we’ve seen the biggest corporate disruptors emerge from basements and garages to overtake industry titans among the Fortune 500. More than half of the companies that were on the Fortune 500 list in 2003 are no longer on it today.
At TechNexus, we believe corporations can turn these industry disruptors into their competitive advantage. By investing in, and partnering with, electrification startups, corporations can gain valuable insights and future-proof their business. We’re connecting corporations to an ecosystem of ventures relevant to their industry, but venture investments are just the beginning of the relationship between corporations and startups. More than half of our team is focused on post-investment collaboration, working to build pilot programs and strategic business relationships well beyond the first check.
Why is investing in electrification startups and innovation important for large corporations, given market adoption for some of these solutions is years away?
We see tremendous strategic importance for large corporations to invest in electrification startups and innovation now, even if widespread market adoption for some solutions is years away. Electrification isn’t a niche trend; it’s a fundamental shift across industries driven by sustainability goals, regulatory pressures, and evolving consumer preferences. While full market saturation may be distant for certain applications, the trajectory is clear. Early investment allows corporations to position themselves as leaders in this future landscape, capturing significant market share as adoption accelerates.
Being an early investor and partner can grant corporations a significant competitive edge. They can influence the development of technologies to better suit their needs, secure favorable partnerships, and establish themselves as go-to players in the evolving electrification ecosystem.
What makes for a venture-backable electrification startup, especially a hardtech company that can be capital intensive, in the early days when there’s no clear winners?
There are some criteria that are “table-stakes” to differentiate winners in hardtech: technology that’s novel; Founding team that possesses domain expertise or some other unique advantage. A less obvious criterion is capital efficiency of the startup when in its formative stages: How much capital does the company require in order to reach sales velocity? If you look at funding for EV startups from 2020-23, there were many companies that raised uncommon amounts of capital (both through conventional venture funding and less conventional routes like SPACs). Many of these companies raised purely on the strength of order books, without having demonstrated the ability to bring meaningful units to market and generate real demand pull-through. In hardtech and electrification, we look for companies building manufacturing capacity that can prove capital-efficient earlier in the lifecycle; Founding teams with an intense customer focus out of the gate can reach sales velocity sooner in their journey, helping to avoid an overreliance on increasingly dilutive capital when the company is still prerevenue.
Sign up for our popular daily email to catch all the latest EV news!
