Steelhead Technologies, a platform for process-based manufacturers, announced this week it raised $2.2 million in seed funding.
Steelhead software helps manufacturers manage their plants and improve efficiency through automated business intelligence that helps track metrics like costs and throughput time. The software can also track invoicing and shipping and can help train employees. The company, which is based near Detroit and has a team in Minnesota, plans to use the recent funding to further build out its platform and improve its customer-service offerings.
New York-based TIA Ventures and C2 Ventures took part in the round, as well as other investors.
The company targets process-based manufacturers, including companies in the surface-finishing, plating and painting areas. Its intended clients are firms that service companies that sell finished products to customers — companies that chrome-plate pistons for auto manufactures, for example. Mankato-based D&K Powder Coating and Custom Powder Coating are among the company's clients.
Many of the firms Steelhead works with have a number of labor-intensive processes that are simple individually, but complicated when put together.
"You have a situation where you have a lot of variability in the types of customers they serve and the types of work they do," said Steelhead founder Jeff Halonen. "The work itself is very manual. There's a lot of turnover. Operators don't have the time to spend two weeks learning an enterprise software."
The businesses the company targets are largely based in the Rust Belt and the Midwest, including Ohio, Michigan and Minnesota, Halonen said.
Steelhead has about 12 employees, Halonen said. The company was founded in 2021
