Machinery Partner raises $4.5 million in seed round to support heavy equipment procurement, financing

Machinery Partner, a company offering procurement, financing and support for small businesses needing heavy machinery, has closed a $4.5 million Series Seed round.

The round was led by One Way Ventures and Euclid Ventures, with participation from PJC and Techstars Ventures. Funding will be used to accelerate sales as well as technology development for the company.

The round also included prominent investors including early Uber employees, dozens of founders of Venture backed companies, and Nicole Glaros, the Chief Investment Strategy Officer of Techstars. 

Machinery Partner aims to disrupt the $200 billion global heavy equipment industry by offering a unique, direct-to-customer model for financing and service. By eliminating dealers and other middlemen, Machinery Partner is able to pass along savings. And because Machinery Partner rates risk according to the business and its potential, rather than the credit score or asset base of the applicant, small and new businesses can now obtain the equipment needed to grow their business and compete with bigger players.

"To say the current equipment procurement model for small business is broken would be an understatement. In fact, it's rigged against them," said Ciaran Gillen, co-founder and CEO. "From dealer networks, to service practices, to leasing and financing - everything is harder, costlier and less efficient for the small businesses that are the backbone of the economy. We are on a mission to democratize access to heavy equipment for these small and emerging businesses in the US and around the world."

Procurement

In the traditional model for procurement, a business goes to a physical dealer and ultimately must choose based on what they have on the lot, or what they sell. This often leads to purchasing equipment that may not be best suited for the task, or one that is costlier because it's the only one in town. Machinery Partner's direct-to-customer approach offers a spectrum of equipment and consultation with experts in the field who recommend the right equipment.

Financing

Traditionally, small businesses are risk-rated for a loan based on their assets and/or their credit history, meaning they have to bet everything they own to pursue their dream. Machinery Partner risk rates each loan based on a more holistic look, including the potential of the business, competitive threats, experience of the owner, and depreciation value of the equipment financed. As a result, Machine Partner is able to make smarter bets and borrowers have reduced loan amounts.

Service

While the connectivity revolution of automobiles has not quite extended to heavy equipment, it is now possible through sensors and on-board telematics to derive critical insights about performance, maintenance and alerts. Machinery Partner is developing a web-based platform that will provide customers a data dashboard to help ensure optimal performance of the equipment.

The company sells and serves a wide variety of crushers, screeners, conveyors, feeders and breakers. The average customer purchases between one and four pieces of equipment at an average sale between $100,000 and $1 million. The company expects to expand its model to other use cases and industries defined by heavy equipment needs.