ESG Today writes that California-based Guidewheel offers companies software solutions powered by artificial intelligence to optimize production processes and lower resource consumption. This helps with a few things at the same time, such as efficiency, lowering costs and reducing the negative impact on the environment. The solution, called "Factory Ops", uses sensors attached to the power supply unit of a said factory, which provides energy to the machinery and equipment, enabling real-time data analysis.

General Motors and Johnson & Johnson are some of the most notable customers of the California-based company and Guidewheel officials said that the 31 million USD funding will be used to further improve the Factory Ops platform.

More features are to be added to the software, including Scout, an AI-powered solution which detects early-stage warnings and catastrophic failures before downtime occurs.

Lauren Dunford, Co-founder and CEO of Guidewheel, said that "equipment in factories often lasts for decades, and a significant number of machines are not yet even connected to the cloud. Historically, the only available solutions have been cost-prohibitive and require specialized skills. Guidewheel changes that by providing a fast, scalable solution that minimizes operational disruption to swiftly connect all machines—across all ages, makes, and models—at a fraction of the cost of competitive solutions."

BlackRock and Temasek led the funding round through their Decarbonization Partners fund, launched in 2022 and which raised a total of 1.4 billion USD to the most innovative climate solutions for the industries.