Detroit-Based Grounded Adapts to a Changing Market

Founded in 2022, Detroit-based startup Grounded has had to be flexible in its approach to the market. Initially, the company was focused on customizing electric vans like Ford’s E-Transit and General Motors’ BrightDrop for the ‘van life’ set, using a modular, ‘Lego-like’ system.

However, after sensing a bigger opportunity, Grounded began customizing those vans for small businesses. But then GM discontinued BrightDrop last year, and Ford axed plans for a next-generation electric Transit van, making electric vehicles a harder sell in the United States.

New $5 Million Seed Round and Manufacturing Facility

Despite the challenges, Grounded has announced that it has closed a $5 million seed round, with repeat investments from existing backers Also Capital and Chicago-based early-stage firm The 81 Collection, along with Animal Capital, the Michigan Outdoor Innovation Fund, and ‘various SpaceX alumni,’ according to founder and CEO Sam Shapiro.

Grounded has also opened a new 50,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Detroit, where it will take its core modular design business and scale it to be vehicle-agnostic, allowing the startup to customize fit to the different kinds of fleet needs – be they electric or combustion-powered.

Production at the facility starts this month, with capacity ramping up next year. Shapiro said in a statement, ‘This new facility is a turning point for Grounded. We built this company to bring smart, modular electric vehicles to the businesses and institutions that keep our cities running. With this expansion, we can finally build at the scale our fleet customers need and bring our platform to an entirely new class of commercial vehicles.’

Customers and Growth

Grounded has already snapped up customers in the commercial (like Colgate and Nokia), medical (Wayne State University Medical and the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii), and even veterinary sectors. In a statement on Tuesday, Grounded’s chief product officer, Nadia Meyer, said the company is seeing ‘notable growth’ from food and beverage and public safety customers, among others.

For Shapiro, GM’s cancellation of BrightDrop was a catalyzing moment. He wrote in a blog post late last year that Grounded would embrace gas-powered vehicles, allowing the startup to build on far more popular models like Ford’s combustion-powered Transit and Mercedes-Benz’s Sprinter vans. It also allowed Grounded to seek out customers who weren’t ready for electric vehicles due to infrastructure challenges.

Shapiro said at the time that Grounded would exhaust the remaining available BrightDrop inventory while it pivoted to new models, including leveraging electric and hybrid options from fellow startup Harbinger.

‘Grounded is not an ‘EV company,’ nor is Grounded a vehicle company at all,’ Shapiro wrote. ‘We build the smart, high-tech, modular workspace or living space on top of the chassis: the design, materials, power system, and Grounded+ software that turn a vehicle into a modern, connected mobile healthcare vehicle, command center, camper van, coffee shop, and more. The application layer on top of the vehicle is our product.’