Verticals

Where domain expertise meets founders solving hard problems in complex industries.

Inside the Critical Infrastructure Vertical
Critical Infrastructure

Inside the Critical Infrastructure Vertical

Critical infrastructure is the physical foundation that keeps modern life running: the systems that generate and move power, produce and distribute food, manage water and waste, and keep essential supply chains reliable. These systems were largely built for a different era and are now under growing pressure from rising demand, climate change, labor constraints, and increasingly complex operating environments. We invest in companies rebuilding and strengthening these systems. Across energy, we focus on technologies that enable cleaner, safer, more reliable, and lower-cost generation, storage, transmission, and management of power. Across food, water, and supply chains, we back companies making a fragmented, labor-intensive system more efficient, resilient, and sustainable, from post-harvest logistics and manufacturing through retail, restaurants, food safety, and public health. We look for advantages rooted in the real world: hardware deployed in the field, hard-won relationships with utilities, operators, and regulators, deep operational expertise, and proprietary data generated through real infrastructure and workflows. Our priority areas include generation and storage, grid software and sensing, cold chain and traceability, automation and workforce tools, food safety, water and waste systems, and biosecurity.

Critical Infrastructure Unicorns

Category-defining companies built in the Health vertical. Source: Public company valuations updated daily from Yahoo Finance API. Private valuations reflect the last funding round found on PitchBook.

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DOOR logo
Public

DOOR

The platform that runs modern apartment buildings.

Critical Infrastructure
Twelve logo
Private

Twelve

Turning captured CO2 into fuels, chemicals, and materials.

Critical Infrastructure
Veho logo
Private

Veho

Next-day e-commerce delivery, handled end to end.

Critical Infrastructure
Zipline logo
Private

Zipline

The world's largest autonomous delivery network in the sky.

Critical Infrastructure

Primary Critical Infrastructure Locations

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Techstars Alabama EnergyTech Accelerator
Birmingham

Birmingham, Alabama

We are focused on supporting startups working within Climate Tech, Clean Tech, and Energy Efficiency, su…

Accelerator
Critical Infrastructure
Alabama Power
Innovate Alabama
Made in Alabama
EDPA
University of Alabama
Southern Research
PowerSouth Energy Cooperative
Altec
USC and Techstars Accelerator
Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

USC and Techstars Accelerator is an incredible opportunity for innovative pre-seed and seed-stage compan…

Accelerator
Finance
Critical Infrastructure
USC
Techstars Future of Food Powered by Ecolab
Minneapolis

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Partnered with Ecolab, the Techstars Future of Food program looks to accelerate startups innovating how …

Accelerator
Critical Infrastructure
Ecolab

The Critical Infrastructure Moat

How we evaluate Critical Infrastructure companies and where the durable advantage comes from.



Moat Thesis

Sensor networks

Field-deployed hardware with environmental hardening.

Lab infrastructure

Wet-lab and BSL-rated facilities take years to commission.

Supply chain

Specialized inputs and qualified vendor relationships.

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