How Innovation Outside Fuels Progress Inside

Celebrating Over 10 Years of Strategic Investments Through Caterpillar Ventures

Brian Lowry and Jihad Salahuddin

Published: May 21, 2026

Customer needs never stand still—and neither does technology. As jobsites evolve, new tools and ideas are helping make work safer, more productive, and more sustainable. We’ve always been proud of the innovations developed at Caterpillar, but with technology advancing so quickly, there’s real value in engaging with what other companies are building, too.

Collaborative innovation has always been part of how Caterpillar works, including long‑standing partnerships with third‑party suppliers and joint development collaborators. In 2015, we took the next step by introducing Caterpillar Ventures—creating a more intentional way to invest in startups advancing technologies that help us solve real customer challenges.

That idea took hold, and over the past decade, it’s grown into something far bigger than imagined. Today, Caterpillar Venture Capital Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc.) is delivering real value for the enterprise, our customers and the entrepreneurs we support. Since 2015, we’ve invested in more than 40 companies, and each investment has opened the door to new ideas, innovative capabilities, and faster progress.

Even with the achievements to date, almost every day we meet people — both inside and outside the company — who have never heard of Caterpillar Ventures.

If that’s you, here are four things you should know about this powerful engine of innovation:

1. It’s a little like “Shark Tank” — but with a strategic twist.

On the TV show, entrepreneurs pitch ideas to investors in the hopes of getting funding to grow their businesses. Caterpillar Ventures works in a similar way — but instead of backing just any good idea, we focus on startups developing technologies and services that are strategically relevant to our industries and our customers.

Also, unlike “Shark Tank’s” investors, we’re not in it purely for financial gain. Our goal is strategic opportunities: to learn faster, move smarter and collaborate with experts at these companies, which helps us remain technologically competitive, especially in the areas of autonomy, energy, electrification and digital solutions.

Caterpillar Ventures portfolio companies don’t replace our internal research and development efforts; it complements it. By tapping great ideas outside our own four walls, we strengthen the solutions we deliver to customers.

2. We don’t just write checks. We roll up our sleeves.

From day one, Caterpillar Ventures has worked hand in hand with our internal businesses who understand our customers best. We help those teams identify, evaluate, and engage with entrepreneurs, but they ultimately decide where to invest. That alignment has been key to the model’s long-term success.

Once an investment is made, we assign an “optimizer” to the project—a Caterpillar employee who helps connect the startup with the right internal teams and keeps collaboration moving in the right direction to deliver on the strategic outcomes of the investment.

Unlike most investors, startups don’t come to Caterpillar Ventures simply for capital. They want what we bring to the table: real-world customer challenges, deep engineering knowledge, a global customer base and the opportunity to scale their technology with one of the most recognized brands in the world. That’s why Caterpillar Ventures doesn’t just invest; we get involved in helping turn promising ideas into real, workable solutions.

3. Our investments are solving real-world challenges right now.

Over the past 10 years, we’ve backed companies and ideas that are helping us accelerate development, tackle customer problems and bring the next generation of Caterpillar solutions to market. Here is just one example:

Lithion Battery Holdings LP: We have building equipment that can stand up to the world’s most demanding environments for over a century, but what about batteries that are just as rugged? That’s where our investment in Lithion Battery comes in. This company produces lithium-ion battery packs for off-road and marine use. Now, we’re working together to develop solutions for our electric equipment and solutions that can handle our customers’ toughest jobsites.

4. Today, we’re investing with more purpose than ever.

We continue to invest in select funds — especially those focused on strategic areas of innovation for our internal businesses, as well as continuing to develop our direct investment portfolio with companies that align with our strategic goals.

Batteries are a great example. As demand grows for electric equipment, we’re investing across the battery value chain — from rugged battery packs (Lithos), to recycling (Redwood Materials), to reuse (Connected Energy) to refining (Nth Cycle). These aren’t one-off investments. They’re part of a broader strategy to accelerate our progress and better serve our customers as they navigate the energy landscape.

Why it matters — to all of us

Caterpillar Ventures is a way to bring fresh thinking, innovative ideas and industry partnerships into our business and move faster on the ideas that matter most to our customers. For entrepreneurs and startup companies, it’s an opportunity to work with a company committed to bringing great ideas to market.

We’ve learned a lot, and we’re investing with more purpose than ever.

If you’re developing something that aligns with where we’re headed, we’d love to hear from you.

Brian Lowry

Director of Strategy & Corporate Development, Caterpillar Electrification + Energy Solutions

Brian has over 25 years of professional experience at Caterpillar in engineering, strategy, and corporate development. He is currently Director for Strategy and Corporate Development within Caterpillar’s Electrification and Energy Solutions Division. In this role, Brian leads a team that develops strategies and fosters investments and commercial agreements to enable the development and management of Caterpillar’s approach to the evolving energy landscape. This includes developments in areas such as batteries, fuel cells, electric drivetrain, energy storage, chargers that are incorporated into Caterpillar products and solutions to serve customers in Construction, Mining, and Power and Energy.

Prior to this role, Brian was an Investment Manager within Caterpillar Ventures focused on Energy, Digital, Robotics, and Material Sciences. Brian was in this role for five years with responsibilities including evaluating start-up companies and their technologies, determining how they fit within Caterpillar’s technology roadmap, facilitating commercial relationships and managing investments into the companies that have high potential to support Caterpillar’s strategic vision.

Brian also has 15 years of experience in product development with Caterpillar. He spent 10 years developing operator stations for a variety of Caterpillar machines from small construction machines up through the largest mining equipment. He then spent five years in engine system development where he helped ensure Caterpillar systems were compliant with EPA and EU emissions regulations. In these roles, Brian gained expertise across Caterpillar’s technologies and products.

Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Missouri University of Science & Technology, and an MBA from Bradley University.

Jihad Salahuddin

Director, Caterpillar Ventures, Global Finance Services Division

Jihad has nearly 30 years of experience at Caterpillar with a career ranging across multiple areas of strategy, engineering, research/development, manufacturing operations and M&A. As the senior investment director at Caterpillar Ventures, Jihad is responsible for all venture capital investments within the Power and Energy segment, he also is responsible for Enterprise alignment of Caterpillar Ventures investment themes and has responsibility for the departments processes and procedures. es aligned to EP 5:04.

Before assuming this position, Jihad held a series of marketing and strategic development roles with Global Aftermarket Solutions, as well as multiple global leadership positions within the Remanufacturing Division—including Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Global NPI and Engineering Manager, and M&A Integration Manager. Additionally, he served in manufacturing engineering and assembly operations for the Large Power Systems Division and held various engineering roles within the Earthmoving Division.

Jihad holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Prairie View A&M University of Texas; Masters in Business Administration with a specialty in Finance and Masters of Science in Industrial Engineering from Bradley University, Executive Certificates from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business in Venture Capital and Product Management from Cornell University.