Nemo Industries wants to remake steelmaking with AI.
The startup, founded by Daniel Liss (Dispo, Teaser AI co-founder), is building pig iron furnaces controlled by AI to modernize an old-school industry. Liss told TechCrunch most steel plants run on “Excel spreadsheets” or “clipboard technology.” Nemo aims to change that.
Liss got interested in steel after guest judging a National War College war game about US-China conflict. He realized the US lacks shipbuilding steel supply chains — the “arsenal of democracy” is running dry. 
“Our core supply chain of the arsenal of democracy — literally, the ships that my grandfather fought in — we don’t have the ship-building capacity. If we did, we don’t have the steel to make it.”
Nemo will fire furnaces with natural gas instead of coal to cut emissions and could capture carbon pollution too. Tax incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act make this a viable plan.
Liss’ partner is Michael DuBose, an LNG infrastructure veteran. Nemo raised $28.2M so far and is working on a $100M Series A. The company also has incentives offers over $1 billion from two southern states if it builds three plants in 15 years.
“He’s built billions of dollars in LNG infrastructure,” Liss said of DuBose.
Building steel plants is expensive. Hyundai’s $6B Louisiana steel plant shows the scale. Nemo’s focused on pig iron, an intermediate step, which might keep costs lower.
Liss is betting on AI from day one to deliver a “20% to 30% margin advantage.” He said steel is tough but can give big returns.
“When you look at the history of our country, many of the greatest companies that created outsize outcomes for their initial investors were in these categories,” Liss said.
“Ultimately, what were the Rockefellers and the Carnegies and the Melons and the Fricks investing in? The dollar amounts are so big in these categories.”
Nemo is no longer stealth. Check nemoind.com for details. The startup aims to bring AI to the heavy industry it says is stuck decades behind.
