Time to Power: How Critical Loop Keeps Industrial America Switched On

In this episode, Madelyn O’Farrell sits down with Bala Ramamurthy, CEO and Co-Founder of Critical Loop, to explore how his journey from NASA and SpaceX led him to tackle one of today’s most urgent problems: industrial access to reliable, scalable power. They discuss why the electricity grid is an underutilized, aging asset facing soaring demand from reindustrialization, data centers, and EV fleets, and how bottlenecks like multi-year wait times for utility upgrades can cripple factories and logistics operators. Bala explains Critical Loop’s solution: modular, relocatable microgrids that combine battery energy storage, generation, and autonomous controls to dramatically shorten “time to power,” including a high-stakes deployment that kept a factory running for nine months during a utility outage. He also covers how Critical Loop works behind the meter and with utilities, the importance of reliability borrowed from aerospace engineering, navigating shifting policy and supply chains, and why industrial operators shouldn’t give up on their preferred locations just because the grid says “no” at first. Highlights from their conversation include: Welcoming Bala Ramamurthy to the Show (0:29) What Critical Loop Does for Industrial Power (1:35) Why the Grid Is Complex, Underutilized Infrastructure (3:05) How Grid Bottlenecks Impact Industrial Operators (4:41) How Critical Loop Analyzes Sites and Designs Solutions (7:21) High Stakes Deployment During Nine-Month Outage (10:18) Where Critical Loop Sits in the Grid Stack (12:03) Deployment Scale Today and Ambition to Reach Gigawatts (14:19) Navigating Policy, Regulation, and Market Tailwinds (17:20) What Rockets and Industrial Power Systems Have in Common (21:59) Advice for Operators Facing Energy as a New Constraint (24:09) Parting Thoughts and Takeaways (25:05) Dynamo Ventures is a venture firm backing founders upgrading the physical economy. As intelligence moves into critical infrastructure and technology collides with physics, industry is entering a new era of transformation - the industrial renaissance. Born from the dirt and grit of supply chains and shaped by operations, not spreadsheets, Dynamo focuses on the complex realities of building in the real world. We invest in companies transforming infrastructure, manufacturing, logistics, transportation, and the systems that power global commerce. Dynamo works closely with founders who combine ambition with a bias to action, bringing a builder mindset to venture capital through deep operational insight, systematic pressure-testing and hands-on partnership. Our purpose is simple: to back the relentless shaping the industrial renaissance. Learn more at www.dynamo.vc. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.