The first institutional round for Nikola Labs, a fast-growing Westerville manufacturing technology startup, has grown by nearly one-third a month after the first close.
Nikola announced on Monday an additional $9 million raised, bringing its Series A to a total of $29 million. The business is hiring in sales and engineering to add features and speed deployment of its sensor system that saves manufacturers costly downtime.
Standard Investments was the largest participant in this latest chunk of the round, with Osage University Partners and a follow-on investment from JobsOhio Growth Capital Fund. The statewide economic development organization created the fund to encourage VC investment in Ohio startups, but always as a sidecar investor.
New York City-based Standard focuses on industrial technology.
CEO Brian Graham, founder Will Zell and the rest of Nikola's team impressed Osage, Partner Manny Stockman said in a news release. Based in suburban Philadelphia, the firm focuses on commercializing university-developed technology.
"They are all passionate entrepreneurs with a relentless focus on working with their customers to deliver true ROI," Stockman said. "Nikola Labs has proven what we love to see in a university spinout: core innovation that initiates customer conversations to shape the right product for rapid adoption.
"Nikola’s vibration sensors are deployed across North America and (the) UK, and their rate of growth is not only stellar in their sector, but across all startup sectors."
The round brings the total raised to $50 million.
Nikola spun out of Ohio State University seven years ago, but has had to shelve that wireless-power tech in the pivot to what it calls "predictive maintenance." The hope is that federal regulators give the OK to incorporate the wireless charging in its system.
Columbus Worthington Industries Inc. was among the first customers.
More than 100 manufacturers are clients, in various industries such as chemicals, metals, plastics, packaging and energy. The common thread is equipment with gears and other moving parts: Nikola's sensors detect vibration and overheating that signal a problem well before it leads to a breakdown.
"We go in, we do a (free) trial. Invariably that turns into a subscription within 30 days," Graham told Columbus Business First last month.
"Our vision is to build out what we refer to as the leading proactive maintenance platform," he said. "We really proved product-market fit in 2020 and 2021 was a growth year."
Nikola has almost doubled to 52 employees, from 27 at the end of 2020, and expects to top 100 this year. The company is based at Otterbein University's Point innovation center, but most staff work remotely.
A Central Ohio contract manufacturer makes the devices that Nikola designs.
