Different backgrounds, but born to McRock

Here we grow again!

Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston had it right: One can have a dream, baby – two can make that dream so real. In the wake of our Fund III announcement, we’ve added two new Associates to the team: Mickey Mi and Pritish Sehgal, VC veterans and recent Canadians.

Pritish’s dad quoted John A. Shedd to him before he moved out of the family home for school: “A ship in a harbour is safe but that is not what ships are built for.” While Mickey hails from China originally and Pritish from India, they have a lot in common:

They joined the McRock team because we’re not like other VC firms – from our approach to the day-to-day to our diverse team to our commitment to founders (their words! We just happen to agree).

Both Pritish and Mickey took the paths that, while not necessarily easy, were just right for them. Pritish broke from family tradition and started from scratch each time he moved – and he credits his willingness to take the plunge for his success thus far. From moving away from his hometown for school to playing professional cricket to recently moving to Canada, Pritish has been clearing his own path from the very beginning.

Mickey learned a hard lesson in his teens and finished high school in Florida, discovering his independence and drive in the process. Since then, a combination of commitment and grit have propelled him to new heights, pushing to get a little better every day. He returned to China after graduate school, then lived briefly in the UK before emigrating to Canada.

From a professional perspective, Mickey has his Bachelors in Economics from the University of Washington in Seattle and his Masters in Enterprise Risk Management from Columbia. He’s actively pursuing his CFA designation. During his undergrad, Mickey explored entrepreneurship, founding an EdTech startup. Prior to joining McRock, he managed social impact investments for GMCVO, a British impact investment firm, worked on early-stage ICT deals at a leading Asian venture capital firm, and contributed to renewable energy investments at a publicly listed company.

Pritish also explored his entrepreneurial side, co-founding Interwood India from his dorm room. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from MIT School of Management and an honorary charter from the CGIA Institute. Prior to becoming a McRocker, Pritish worked at Grant Thronton, Faber Capital PE and most recently at IAN Group, where he led early-stage SaaS investments. His past investment experience includes sectors such as clean energy, logistics, enterprise tech, robotics and biotech.

In keeping with our McRock Twins alter egos, we asked what their superpowers would be. Watch out, VC: Mickey would read minds, and Pritish would time travel. That combination might just be unstoppable!

Oh, and when we asked what this year’s holiday music video should be, Post Malone might have come up. Our question is, who gets the face tattoos…Scott or Whitney?

World sensing

This Worldsensing-Bentley Systems deal feels like a marriage made in heaven

Series D financing and an acquisition are setting this partnership up for new levels of success

There are exciting deals, and then there are EXCITING deals. This one falls into the latter category. Worldsensing is one of the shining stars in McRock’s portfolio. We have supported their financing rounds over the years because they truly have an innovative and effective solution to help tackle the challenges of climate change in a real and compelling way.

This latest round of financing is led by Bentley Systems–an infrastructure software engineering firm that provides innovative and industry-leading software solutions to professionals, and organizations of every size, for the design, construction, and operations of roads and bridges, rail and transit, water and wastewater, public works and utilities, buildings and campuses, mining, and industrial facilities. The deal also includes acquisition of Bentley’s Thread connectivity device business by Worldsensing which will substantially increase the size of the operation.

The new partnership between Worldsensing and Bentley Systems features a critical go-to-market strategy to monitor critical infrastructure to save lives and protect the environment. The investment will help Worldsensing expand and complement the company’s product portfolio, offering new options to its customers where adaptive sensor integrations or active sensor management are a key requirement.

Partnerships like this truly have the potential to change the world. We couldn’t have envisioned a better marriage ourselves.

Another $50 million in funding? Plus One Robotics is clearly onto something good

McRock increases investment in parcel-handling robotics platform

We’re in good company with our latest investment in Plus One Robotics led by Scale Venture Partners. McRock joins Top Tier Capital Partners, Tyche Partners and several other prominent investors in the $50 million Series C funding. This brings the company’s total funding to nearly $100 million.

We’re proud to say we saw their potential before they earned this “new cool kid in town” reputation. We first invested in Plus One Robotics nearly two years ago. They are the perfect example of innovation that marries AI and robotics technology with an essential human component to tackle a persistent challenge that spans multiple industries. And by all accounts, that challenge isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, even in a post-pandemic world. We’re talking about the L word. (Labor, in case it wasn’t obvious.)

Giant global customers like FedEx and DHL recognize the tremendous value Plus One Robotics’ RaaS offering provides them in meeting their logistics challenges in the face on an ongoing universal labor shortage. Plus One Robotics deployments perform more than one million parcel picks each day in production and currently hold an industry-leading metric of more than half a billion parcel picks globally. They’ve recently added e-commerce firm Pitney Bowes to the client roster. And they believe there is plenty of room for even more heavy-weight brands like them.

Plus One Robotics will use the bulk of the funds to grow its capacity, rapidly scale deployment, expand sales efforts as well as invest in product development. We’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what this firm will do. Exciting times ahead!

New Talent Pic

Meet the newest McRockers

We are scaling our investment team

We are sure about one thing when it comes to venture capital. People make all the difference. To maintain our position as a leading investor in the Digital Industrial, we have added two exceptional individuals to our team. Mike Dawson joins as a Vice President and Fasih Kareem joins as an Associate.

Mike Dawson is a lifelong entrepreneur. He understands life as a founder and has an obsession for building and scaling businesses. He spent the first part of his career on the tools as an engineer before pivoting to tech and consulting. He brings all of that experience to team McRock and the world of VC

Engineering work took Mike all over Canada and Texas in several industrial settings (e.g., renewable energy, oil & gas, utilities, etc.). He commissioned and redesigned the world’s first electric oil fracking fleet–innovative and rewarding work–but the repetitive nature of P&C engineering left him needing an outlet for his innovation. He scratched the entrepreneurial itch by launching his first business, independently growing a product to retail shelf space in more than 200 stores across five countries.

Mike pivoted into the tech world where he grew a SaaS start-up five-fold while overseeing revenue. He closed the necessary funding and founded a subsidiary business leveraging existing data and hardware. These catalysts made the business appealing for acquisition–which it quickly was–creating the largest fitness technology company in the world. From here Mike moved into digital consulting to establish relationships, negotiate large multi-year contracts and grow business with some of the largest corporations across North America.
Mike earned his Bachelors degree from McMaster University in both Electrical Engineering and Finance, all while captaining the lacrosse team to a National Championship–because why not make your post-secondary school years even more challenging. He also received his Professional Engineers designation from APEGA.

Fasih Kareem has a passion for helping businesses grow through data-driven decision making. He believes that with the right guidance and support most start-ups can become great companies that will scale and create more opportunity for others. It’s a winning formula but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Each start-up journey is challenging, with many bumps along the way, but he also knows that stepping up to bat every single day is ultimately the key to success. He is inspired by working in a community of like-minded builders and creators on a shared mission to find technology solutions that can unlock new opportunities for growth.

Curiosity and constant learning drive Fasih. He’s built a knowledge base that helps him deliver insights on business strategies, financial management and data analytics all at once. It all began with a career in auditing where he developed a deep understanding of big business operations; this led to his career in investments, first in the healthcare technology sector and then venture capital investments focusing on early-stage technology start-ups. He has more than nine years of experience and specializes in advanced financial modelling, valuation transactions, mergers and acquisitions and business analysis.

Fasih has previously worked in real estate, venture capital, healthcare IT solutions, and education services sectors in Canada, USA, Singapore, UAE and Pakistan, where he focused on financial planning and executing growth strategies. Fasih is a member of CPA Canada and ACCA and holds a BSc Honors in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University. He has provided in-depth analysis and solutions to technology start-ups in South and Central Asia.

Fasih is an avid traveller, enjoys photography and swimming, and likes to learn new languages. He’s presently trying to master French. Très bien!