Heartland Technology
The Intersection of Technology, Structural Tailwinds and Capital
Our Strategic Advantage
Our Position
The next decade of U.S. economic competitiveness will be shaped by the modernization of the country’s industrial, energy, logistics, and infrastructure systems. This transformation requires technologies that enhance manufacturing efficiency, improve grid resilience, support electrification, strengthen supply chains, and enable safer, smarter, and more automated physical operations. These technologies—collectively Heartland Technologies—are emerging disproportionately from America’s interior.
Market Outlook
The Interior Innovation Corridor houses the highest density of U.S. production capacity. No other region has the scale of physical industry, research facilities and energy infrastructure represented. The IIC has unmatched access to the country’s most important federal research assets, including national laboratories that lead global research in these fields. Startups emerging from these environments benefit from deep IP, specialized talent, and commercial pathways tied to national priorities.
Fund Snapshot
$5M (Likely to Oversubscribe)
Investing in Heartland Technologies in the IIC provides LPs with access to the most undercapitalized segment of U.S. industry, lower valuations and larger ownership stakes. We offer exposure to these critical infrastructure technologies, development through our relationships with national laboratories, clinics and research centers, and highly defensible IP. Deals through this vertical represent strong strategic buyer interest and tangible, measurable value creation.
Eric Dobson
CEV Founder & Managing Partner Partner
Eric has commercialized Oak Ridge National Laboratory IP and received a DOE award for the National Laboratory Consortium Technology of the Year in 2024. He was named Navigator Entrepreneur of the Year by the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce (2010) and Pinnacle Innovator of the Year in 2011 by the Innovation Valley Technology Council. He has also been granted Phase I and II SBIR awards from the Dept. of Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Eric brings his history as an investor, entrepreneur and passionate Tennessean into everything he does at CEV. He has a deep understanding of the current technologies, markets, and developments in Middle America and believes strongly in building not only investments but entrepreneurs, great founders and amazing companies.
Legacy Portfolio
