David and Sandra Manosalvas-Kjono, Founders of Aeromutable

It may be surprising to realize that 4 out of every 5 commercial and consumer goods is distributed by semi-trucks. In the US alone, the trucking industry uses over 61 billion gallons of fuel per year which costs over $90 billion dollars in order to distribute all of these products from coast to coast. But it is not just about the money, this industry is responsible for the emission of over 680 million tons of CO2.

When the modern semi-trucks came to life, gas was cheap and environmental awareness was not top of mind. The original design emphasis was placed on having a strong engine to carry heavy loads; a spacious cabin so drivers could spend long hours in the cab; a long and spacious trailer to pack as many goods as possible; and a flat back to optimize loading and unloading. It is this flat back that turns out to be one of the main sources of aerodynamic inefficiencies with over 65% of the fuel going towards overcoming aerodynamic drag.

Yet, no major aerodynamic add-on device can provide this industry with more than 5% fuel savings.

Aeromutable can. It’s like adding a supercharger to a semi. The Aeromutable technology leverages deep understanding of the aerodynamic behavior of ground vehicles with the ability to sense the environment around the truck to create a first of its kind dynamic system that uses air to actively change the aerodynamic shape of the trailer, tripling the fuel savings compared to the top competitors and doubling or even tripling the profit margins for the trucking industry while significantly decreasing its carbon footprint.

More about Aeromutable:

“A Driving Force: Stanford PhDs use air injection to streamline long-haul trucking“ – TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy 1/22/21

“We included True Wealth Ventures in our Series Seed round of investment funding because we believe in their mission to invest in women leaders with a focus on high-growth greener products…, and we felt True Wealth Ventures’ values not only aligned with ours but could help guide us in making that a reality as we continue to build our company.” – Sandra Manosalvas-Kjono

Co-founder and COO: Sandra Manosalvas-Kjono, PhD
Headquarters: San Diego, CA

Sandra Manosalvas-Kjono, Founder of Aeromutable

Meet Dr. Sandra Manosalvas-Kjono:

Background: Dr. Sandra Manosalvas-Kjono is Aeromutable’s Co-Founder, Chief Operations Officer and Lead Sensor System Design Engineer. Sandra has been in engineering for the past 16 years and earned her Electrical Engineering PhD from Stanford University. Additionally, she holds a Stanford Graduate School of Business Certificate of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Sandra has leadership and managerial experience as a US Navy helicopter pilot and as a SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific Project Manager where she led a $1M government award with a team of five engineers and produced and co-authored a US Navy patented dual-band diode mixer for RF data receiver technology in 1-year. Sandra also has one published patent and one pending patent related to the non-linear device capacitive sensor she developed during her PhD. Sandra has also led multiple teams outside of the engineering environment. She has been recognized in the national and local stages through Stanford University and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society for her work bringing together people of diverse origins while increasing the visibility of native women in academia, engineering and entrepreneurship. When she isn’t spending time outdoors, volunteering to serve the community, or spending time with family, Sandra enjoys learning to drive, fly, or sail various machinery.

Why Start Aeromutable? David and I started Aeromutable towards the end of our PhDs because we saw an opportunity to not only take academic research from theory to practice, but to potentially make a significant positive impact on the lives of others. Trucking is a cash-strapped industry, but it is the backbone of our supply chain. Trucking routes are frequently located near low-income and underrepresented communities. By bringing an aerodynamic enhancement device to the trucking industry, we will be able to increase the profitability of trucking companies, cut down on emissions through those frontline low-income communities, and significantly reduce the amount of CO2 released into the environment. Realizing these benefits through our company motivated us to take the plunge into entrepreneurship.

Why Seek Venture Capital? Aeromutable has historically been funded by federal and private research grants focused on the evolution of our technology – to take it from the virtual world to reality. We sought out venture capital investment to be able to accelerate the commercialization of our first device which will allow us to get our device into the hands of trucking companies where it can make the most difference as soon as possible.

Why True Wealth Ventures? We included True Wealth Ventures in our Series Seed round of investment funding because we believe in their mission to invest in women leaders with a focus on high-growth greener products. We at Aeromutable believe in the power of fostering a diverse workforce and have benefited from it within our executive team as well as with the interns we’ve employed in the past few years of operation. We are proud that we have been represented by women, non-binary, Hispanic, and Native American engineers, and we feel that our past successes in developing and testing our proof-of-concept prototype have been due to the diverse perspectives we’ve had along the way that have allowed us to come up with unique solutions quickly. We intend to continue to grow Aeromutable with this mindset to create a diverse and collaborative environment of innovation, and we felt True Wealth Ventures’ values not only aligned with ours but could help guide us in making that a reality as we continue to build our company.

Have you seen women General Partners bring a different perspective to the table?  I don’t have much experience with this… yet.

Do you think a woman’s perspective is valuable to this market?  While a majority of trucking company owners and truck drivers are male, the industry is evolving as the number of female drivers are ever-increasing and the number of women in leadership roles within trucking companies continues to expand. As the roles women play in the industry expand, trucking benefits from the diversity of thought and perspective that any group of different thinkers would add. New and better solutions to old problems can only happen with new ways of thinking.

Words of Wisdom: When navigating the unknown and new, remember to give it your best shot and if things don’t turn out as planned, recognize it for what it’s worth: a learning opportunity and a chance to grow.