Latest news with #Shubber
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
This founder wants to create the Tesla of bulldozers. Here's the 32-ton prototype.
Ahmed Shubber, 25, started EV bulldozer startup Lumina in 2021. He recently unveiled a prototype called Moonlander, a 32-ton, all-electric bulldozer. He told Business Insider that he wants to take the "Tesla approach" to building his company. Ahmed Shubber, a 25-year-old founder from Connecticut, wants to compete with the Caterpillars of the construction industry by building the Tesla of bulldozers. Shubber's company, Lumina, has been operating in stealth since 2021 and has since grown to a team of 26 people and raised an $8 million seed round, according to the founder. On Wednesday, Shubber demonstrated Lumina's first prototype, the Moonlander, in San Francisco. In an interview with Business Insider, Shubber said he spent around $3 million building the all-electric, 32-ton bulldozer. The tractor was assembled in the UK, with parts coming in from nearly 200 different suppliers, he said. David Wright, Lumina's head of UK operations, told BI that the Moonlander has the same footprint as Caterpillar's D6, a medium-sized bulldozer, but can push the same amount of load as a D9, a much larger tractor. Wright said the blade attached to the Moonlander's body at the Wednesday demonstration is the same size as the blade typically seen on a D9 tractor. "A D6 could not push that blade," he said. "We can have that blade full of material, full dozing seven to nine cubic meters of material, for eight to 10 hours." Wright said a charging station would be required on a project site. "It can charge at 300 kilowatts, so we can go from zero to full in an hour and a quarter," he said. "Even if you spend all morning heavy dozing and you're a bit worried about how much juice you've used — well, your operators are going to take a union-mandated lunch break, right? Plug it in, and in 30 minutes, you've put 50% of power back in again," Wright said. Shubber told BI that he's taking the "Tesla approach" by building everything from the hardware and software stack in-house, including what Lumina hopes will be the Moonlander's autonomous capabilities. "If you look at every great company that's tackling autonomy — Waymo, Tesla — they built their own hardware stack from scratch," he said. "Waymo built all their sensors from scratch. Tesla built a car from scratch. And I think if we really want to have huge market penetration, I think you need to follow the same approach and not just slap on off-the-shelf parts." The Wednesday demonstration did not show the Moonlander operating independently, but Shubber said the bulldozer is equipped with Nvidia chips, so the Moonlander can be equipped with a full autonomous sensor suite when it's ready. Lumina's origin has the inklings of the classic Silicon Valley startup story. Shubber, who has no formal background in robotics or construction, told BI that he started his company inside his parents' garage with a hand-me-down John Deere garden tractor. He said he got the equipment for free on Facebook Marketplace and retrofitted it with sensors himself to make it operate remotely. For funding, Shubber said he messaged about 3,000 potential angel investors, and about 10 responded. His first angel investor was Peter Reinhardt, who sold his company Segment, a customer data management platform, to Twilio for $3.2 billion in 2020. Shubber said Reinhardt wrote him a $20,000 check, which allowed the founder to buy a skid steer tractor and automate it. "Ahmed reached out to me years ago on Twitter which I usually ignore, but he was incredibly persistent and showing progress on an extraordinarily thin personal budget," Reinhardt said in an email to BI. "It reminded me of hardware projects I had in college. Maybe a bit too much naive, confidence, and bravado, but I think I had that too ... I figured he deserved a solid shot and I wrote him that first check." Reinhardt added that Shubber has made a lot of progress on the Moonlander and that the founder has a "massive vision." Shubber said he's now looking to raise $20 million to $40 million for its Series A round. He said his revenue target in the next 24 months is $100 million. Shubber said Lumina's business model won't be focused on selling equipment. Instead, it will be the company that performs the excavation on project sites. The start date goal is January 2026. Shunner said Lumina's next prototype is already in the works: a 100-ton electric excavator called Blade Runner. Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- Business Insider
This founder wants to create the Tesla of bulldozers. Here's the 32-ton prototype.
Ahmed Shubber, a 25-year-old founder from Connecticut, wants to compete with the Caterpillars of the construction industry by building the Tesla of bulldozers. Shubber's company, Lumina, has been operating in stealth since 2021 and has since grown to a team of 26 people and raised an $8 million seed round, according to the founder. On Wednesday, Shubber demonstrated Lumina's first prototype, the Moonlander, in San Francisco. In an interview with Business Insider, Shubber said he spent around $3 million building the all-electric, 32-ton bulldozer. The tractor was assembled in the UK, with parts coming in from nearly 200 different suppliers, he said. David Wright, Lumina's head of UK operations, told BI that the Moonlander has the same footprint as Caterpillar's D6, a medium-sized bulldozer, but can push the same amount of load as a D9, a much larger tractor. Wright said the blade attached to the Moonlander's body at the Wednesday demonstration is the same size as the blade typically seen on a D9 tractor. "A D6 could not push that blade," he said. "We can have that blade full of material, full dozing seven to nine cubic meters of material, for eight to 10 hours." Wright said a charging station would be required on a project site. "It can charge at 300 kilowatts, so we can go from zero to full in an hour and a quarter," he said. "Even if you spend all morning heavy dozing and you're a bit worried about how much juice you've used — well, your operators are going to take a union-mandated lunch break, right? Plug it in, and in 30 minutes, you've put 50% of power back in again," Wright said. Shubber told BI that he's taking the "Tesla approach" by building everything from the hardware and software stack in-house, including what Lumina hopes will be the Moonlander's autonomous capabilities. "If you look at every great company that's tackling autonomy — Waymo, Tesla — they built their own hardware stack from scratch," he said. "Waymo built all their sensors from scratch. Tesla built a car from scratch. And I think if we really want to have huge market penetration, I think you need to follow the same approach and not just slap on off-the-shelf parts." The Wednesday demonstration did not show the Moonlander operating independently, but Shubber said the bulldozer is equipped with Nvidia chips, so the Moonlander can be equipped with a full autonomous sensor suite when it's ready. Humble beginnings Lumina's origin has the inklings of the classic Silicon Valley startup story. Shubber, who has no formal background in robotics or construction, told BI that he started his company inside his parents' garage with a hand-me-down John Deere garden tractor. He said he got the equipment for free on Facebook Marketplace and retrofitted it with sensors himself to make it operate remotely. For funding, Shubber said he messaged about 3,000 potential angel investors, and about 10 responded. His first angel investor was Peter Reinhardt, who sold his company Segment, a customer data management platform, to Twilio for $3.2 billion in 2020. Shubber said Reinhardt wrote him a $20,000 check, which allowed the founder to buy a skid steer tractor and automate it. "Ahmed reached out to me years ago on Twitter which I usually ignore, but he was incredibly persistent and showing progress on an extraordinarily thin personal budget," Reinhardt said in an email to BI. "It reminded me of hardware projects I had in college. Maybe a bit too much naive, confidence, and bravado, but I think I had that too ... I figured he deserved a solid shot and I wrote him that first check." Reinhardt added that Shubber has made a lot of progress on the Moonlander and that the founder has a "massive vision." Shubber said he's now looking to raise $20 million to $40 million for its Series A round. He said his revenue target in the next 24 months is $100 million. Shubber said Lumina's business model won't be focused on selling equipment. Instead, it will be the company that performs the excavation on project sites. The start date goal is January 2026. Shunner said Lumina's next prototype is already in the works: a 100-ton electric excavator called Blade Runner.
Rudaw Net
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
Iraq's future water availability at risk: Panelists
Also in Iraq Iraq continues to face interference in its internal affairs: Iraqi Speaker Iraqi PM seeks 'new page' with oil companies operating in Kurdistan Iraqi President reaffirms Iraq's role as regional stabilizer Germany supports Yazidi return to Shingal: Consul General A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq is not currently experiencing a drought; however, it requires 90 billion cubic meters of water annually. Amid rising climate change risks, predicting future water availability has become increasingly difficult, placing women at higher risk of harm, panelists discussed on the second day of the Erbil Forum 2025. On the second day of the three-day event, panelists discussed key agendas, including climate change and its impact on human rights violations in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. Most of Iraq's central and southern areas are suffering from drought, and the whole country has seen less rainfall in January compared to the same period last year, the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture announced in late January. 'We still are not in a drought period. We are in a poor period, but we are just a step before going into a drought period," regarding the water budget in Iraq, Torhan al-Mufti, an advisor to the Iraqi prime minister on water. 'If we have a good season, it means we will need 90 billion cubic meters per year. In a poor season or drought, we will need 50 billion.' This year has seen adequate rainfall, whereas the past four years had been marked by scarce precipitation, approaching drought conditions, he added. Zaki Shubber, a lawyer and international expert in freshwater law and conflict resolution, emphasized that most of the products we use are closely tied to water resources. She also underscored the critical importance of water and the significant role climate change plays in its availability and sustainability. 'It is the unpredictability of water availability in climate change that no longer allows us to model and forecast how much water is going to be available. We have erratic precipitation patterns, so rainfall comes at different times in different quantities and in different places,' Shubber told the Erbil event, which is being organized by Rudaw Research Center. Shubber emphasized the significant role of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in supplying Iraq's water resources and highlighted the high risk of their decline due to ongoing climate challenges. Climate change and environmental challenges are global issues that impact everyone, she said. 'When we talk about water, everyone will say how important it is, how we need to value it and how we need to respect it, but when it comes to taking action, it is often more complicated. When it comes to putting money into the projects the measures that we need to address on certainty and all the other issues that affect water because it is a factor that comes amongst many other factors affecting water and that certainly affects the demand for water not just the supply of water but we have to go beyond talking about it we have to go beyond saying that we will do something and actually do something and put the financing that is needed,' she added. When facing environmental crises, comes economic challenges as well and as a result, women are disproportionately affected, as coping mechanisms within families often include early marriage and restricted access to education and healthcare services, Sheri Kraham Talabani President and Co-Founder of SEED Foundation, said during the panel. 'Women and girls are fourteen times more likely to be harmed during environmental disasters; at least 60% of the deaths in an environmentally related extreme climate event are women,' Talabani added. In countries like Iraq, women and girls face greater challenges in coping with disasters due to limited access to resources, information, and support, making them disproportionately affected by such crises, she emphasized.
