First Mode
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
First Mode was a Seattle-based developer of hybrid-electric equipment for heavy industry, founded in 2018 to build hybrid and fully electric engines for mining haul trucks and rail. In a three-year partnership with Anglo American, it developed a hydrogen-powered mine haul truck combining fuel-cell and battery drives — the first commercially available retrofit hybrid system for mining equipment. After Anglo American stopped funding the venture in December 2024, First Mode filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware (citing ~$98M in debt) and ran an asset auction; Cummins acquired its assets — brand, hybrid mining and rail product lines, IP portfolio, and operations in Australia, the US, and Chile — in February 2025 for a $15M stalking-horse bid.
02 / First Mode FAILURE REASONS
Failure factors
after majority shareholder Anglo American halted funding, First Mode could not find a buyer in a sale process and filed bankruptcy restructuring to sell assets and wind down. Davis Polk likewise describes a liquidating bankruptcy restructuring plan with a Cummins stalking-horse APA for substantially all assets at $15M cash plus assumed liabilities.
Majority shareholder Anglo American halted capital; liquidity crisis followed.
Explored sale but unable to find a buyer before in-court wind-down.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Liquidation
FIRST MODE IPP LIMITED (14383857) commenced members’ voluntary liquidation on 9 May 2025 (declaration of solvency 30 Apr 2025). Parent First Mode Holdings Inc. filed Ch.11 in Delaware on 15 Dec 2024 with a liquidating plan and Cummins stalking-horse asset sale (Davis Polk / GeekWire)—global wind-down including non-U.S. affiliates.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
First Mode was founded in Seattle in 2018 to create hybrid and fully electric engines for industrial hauling vehicles, partnering with Anglo American on a hydrogen-powered mine haul truck.
- 02
Despite the technical milestone, the company struggled to attract sufficient commercial interest amid a mining-sector shift toward battery-electric equipment (Fortescue, BHP, Vale all committing to electrification).
- 03
After Anglo American stopped funding in December 2024, First Mode filed for Chapter 11 in Delaware with ~$98M in debt and auctioned its assets.
- 04
In February 2025, Cummins acquired First Mode's assets — brand, hybrid mining/rail product lines, full IP portfolio, and teams in Australia, the US, and Chile — with a $15M stalking-horse bid; the remaining estate was to be liquidated.