Ryder is acquiring Baton, a company it had already invested in through its Ryder Ventures arm that targets giving the fleet rental and supply chain management giant a stake into logistics-focused startups.
In a statement announcing the acquisition, Ryder (NYSE: R) said it invested in Baton early in 2021. The acquisition of the full company was closed Aug. 31.
Ryder declined to answer further questions about the deal.
Late last year, Baton co-founder Andrew Berberick, in an interview with...
This fireside chat recap is from Day 1 of FreightWaves’ Future of Supply Chain live event in Rogers, Arkansas. For more information and content from the event, click here.
FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Venture capital at work in transportation and logistics
DETAILS: A chat with Prologis Ventures head Will O’Donnell on putting money to work in the supply chain.
SPEAKER: Will O’Donnell, managing director at Prologis Ventures
BIO: O’Donnell heads the innovation platform and venture capital arm of logistics...
Connected vehicle solution Platform Science announced Thursday it has closed on $115 million in series C funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 with participation from new investor Chimera and existing investors including 8VC, Daimler, Prologis, NextPlay and Four More Capital.
The company has raised $194.47 million since 2017 for its platform that helps commercial vehicles better manage and deploy applications including electronic logging devices, messaging programs and other workflow solutions....
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/platform-science-raises-115m-softbank-director-joins-board
Software company SVT Robotics recently announced it has closed on a $25 million series A funding round led by Tiger Global Management with participation from Prologis Ventures to step up the company’s mission to make it easier for warehouses to invest and deploy robotics automation.
“With the seismic shifts we’ve seen in supply chain demands, warehouse operators want to adapt, but they need a way to quickly deploy fully integrated automation,” said William O’Donnell, managing director of...
Routing and dispatching technology provider Wise Systems announced Wednesday that after 300% year-over-year growth over the past two years, the company has raised $50 million in its recent Series C round led by Tiger Global Management with participation from Section 32, Valo Ventures, Gradient Ventures and Prologis Ventures.
The company plans to use the additional capital to expedite its product development supporting last-mile delivery operations, along with adding members to the team to...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/wise-systems-raises-50m-to-expedite-last-mile-product-development
Maybe not today, and not likely tomorrow, but one day soon, many Americans will receive their first e-commerce delivery by drone. For residents in select areas of the country – North Carolina, Arkansas and Ohio among others – drones are already making deliveries to the home.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Walmart (NYSE: WMT), UPS (NYSE: UPS) and Kroger (NYSE: KR) are among the large retailers and delivery providers that are rapidly scaling up drone delivery tests. Others will soon follow.
But while...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/without-changes-warehouses-could-ground-drone-deliveries
Gideon Brothers, a robotics startup based in Croatia, announced a $31 million Series A round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), the venture and growth arm of Koch Industries Inc., and participation from DB Schenker, Prologis Ventures and Rite-Hite, a leading manufacturer of loading dock equipment based in Milwaukee.
Past investors include Taavet Hinrikus, Pentland Ventures, Peaksjah, HCVC, commonly referred to as Hardware Club, Ivan Topčić, Nenad Bakić and Luca Ascani.
Gideon Brothers has...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/gideon-brothers-raises-31m-for-3d-robotic-technology
FORT Robotics, a safety and security platform for smart machines, announced on Thursday it has closed a $13 million Series A funding round led by Prime Movers Lab. Other investors included Prologis Ventures, Ahoy Capital, FundersClub, Compound, Lemnos VC, Quiet Capital, Creative Ventures and NBA Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
All industries are finding ways to include automation and robotic systems into their workflows to increase productivity. Without proper safety measures around these...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fort-raises-13m-to-enhance-safety-of-robotic-systems
WorkStep, a Portland, Oregon-based jobs platform designed to facilitate worker hiring and retention in the logistics and industrial sectors, said Wednesday it has landed $17 million in funding.
The capital infusion consists of $6.7 million in seed capital that was actually provided in 2017 and $10.5 million in Series A funding that was recently supplied, WorkStep said. The latest round was led by FirstMark Capital, which had also provided the seed financing, WorkStep said. Prologis Ventures, a...
The key to creating value in FreightTech is to not just know tech but to know freight. That goes for founders as well as the venture capital (VC) funds that back them.
Prologis Ventures Managing Partner Will O’Donnell discussed the various aspects of this issue with Assembly Ventures co-founder and partner Jessica Robinson during FreightWaves’ FreightTech Venture Summit on Wednesday.
From the VC perspective, the freight industry “is complicated so it requires an understanding of the nuances,”...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/to-create-freighttech-value-know-freight-pain-points-with-video