NVP’s Vaughn Crowe on how manufacturing and industrials hit their venture moment

For Vaughn Crowe, the world of manufacturing and industrials isn’t theoretical. It’s innate. Now a VC, he grew up in Newark, historically an American industrial powerhouse.

“I was in the same neighborhood as the airport and the port,” said Crowe. “Before I knew what being a financier was, there was the thought that being a longshoreman wasn’t a bad idea. It’s a good living and I had friends who went down that path. When you’re from that environment, you can apply some critical thinking and understanding that there’s value to be created.”

Crowe, who cofounded VC firm NVP Capital with Dan Borok, has been investing in manufacturing and industrials since the firm’s beginnings in 2020. In the years since, “reindustrialization” has become something between buzzword and reality, with private capital and venture dollars flowing into the industrial base, from manufacturing to defense to energy. For a long time, those sectors weren’t seen as venture-ready. I asked Crowe: What changed?

“COVID put a spotlight on supply chain, travel, logistics, energy, power,” he said. “Healthcare is mission-critical for our country, but guess what else is? Manufacturing, shipping, and receiving. So, we were seeing where the U.S. economy was affected at scale, and that flashlight shined brightly on nursing and healthcare, of course, but also on the supply chain. Then, with geopolitical challenges around aerospace and defense, the government shifted to support mission-critical industries to help them be more self-reliant. It was a moment in time where we were recognizing these things as critical.”

AI has, of course, accelerated all of this, too. As Crowe told Fortune: “We’re at the intersection of where AI meets the physical world, and it’s impacting everything, including space, robotics, and manufacturing. We’re at the precipice of something truly revolutionary in the physical world.”

NVP has backed a wide range of companies, including Vulcan Elements, Reaxiomatic, Laborup, Outlast Power, Human Archive, Haptica Robotics, Class8, Optimal Dynamics, and Upwell. Exits, he said, will likely involve some combination of........

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