Case study · 2024—Present

ThermoTune

Building an industrial heat-optimisation venture through validation, founder onboarding, seed investment, launch, and external-funding negotiations.

Role

Venture and investment lead

Year

2024—Present

Scope

Industrial AI, Venture investment

The story

Validating an industrial problem

ThermoTune applies data and AI to optimise steam-based heating in manufacturing plants. I helped progress the venture from customer-led validation through founder onboarding, investment review, incorporation, and launch.

Industrial venture building requires more than an attractive technology story. Validation had to connect the operating problem, customer economics, available data, implementation constraints, and a credible route to repeatable deployment.

Moving from validation to investment

I coordinated the work required to turn the validated opportunity into an investable company: the investment case, governance structure, approvals, term sheet, transaction documents, founder arrangements, and stakeholder decisions.

As the company developed, I structured senior reviews around the questions that mattered most—product roadmap, technical moat, sensors and data, profitability, market focus, traction, runway, and total capital requirement.

Supporting the next financing stage

When ThermoTune moved toward external funding, I analysed the proposed terms across economics, control, governance, founder incentives, and future-round effects. I helped develop the shareholder counter-proposal and worked with the founders, lead investor, and counsel as the round progressed to agreed terms.

Company materials reported double-digit reductions in fuel cost and emissions, with customer payback below six months. My contribution was to help build the company and create a financing and governance structure capable of supporting its next stage.

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