geotechnical-engineering
(3)
Delve Underground
Delve Underground is an employee-owned heavy civil and tunnel engineering firm that designs, builds, and rehabilitates the underground infrastructure behind transit systems, water and wastewater networks, and energy projects. Founded in 1954 as Jacobs Associates and rebranded from McMillen Jacobs Associates in late 2022, the firm brings roughly 350 specialists across 21-25 offices in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to some of the most technically demanding tunnels, shafts, and deep foundations in North America and Australasia.
Terranova
Terranova is a Berkeley-born climate-tech and robotics startup building car-sized autonomous robots that inject a wood-waste slurry deep underground to lift flood-prone land out of harm's way - no seawalls, no surface disruption. A single 'mothership' coordinating three injection rovers can raise about one acre by one foot per day, while the buried biomass becomes a durable carbon sink that can be sold as carbon credits. Founded by UC Berkeley mechanical engineer Laurence Allen to save his hometown of San Rafael, California, the company raised a $7M seed round in November 2025 and plans its first San Rafael pilots in 2026.
Victor Romero
Victor Romero is the President and CEO of Delve Underground, a specialized underground engineering firm with 350+ employees and 21 offices across North America and Australasia. A geological and geotechnical engineer with over 30 years of experience, Romero joined the firm in 1991 when it was known as McMillen Jacobs Associates, rose through leadership roles spanning design, construction management, and regional management, and led the company's rebranding to Delve Underground in 2023. He is an industry-recognized expert in the Sequential Excavation Method (SEM) and has overseen landmark tunneling projects across the US, Australia, and New Zealand.