Startups

Warehouses are under pressure to increase product picking efficiency in a time of expedited e-commerce. Automation and robotics can help.

Trevor Milton believes replacing diesel trucks with cleaner alternatives will improve the image of trucking and enable legislators to slash emissions.

The partnership between IVECO and Nikola Motors announced in September will roll out its first battery electric truck to European buyers in 2021. A fuel cell electric model will follow in 2023.

Spanish road freight startup Ontruck has acquired digital freight forwarding platform Briver, in an attempt to consolidate its market position in the Spanish region of Cataluña.

French freight matching startup FretLink has introduced new carrier-centric features in collaboration with equipment provider TIP and fuel card player UTA.

Every day, more than 40% of all truck drivers on the road use an hour or more of productive driving time to search for a secure parking spot before their hours of service run out.

Freightos, the world’s largest freight marketplace, sees transparent pricing of international freight benefiting shippers and forwarders alike.

MIT-incubated start-up looks for learning models; just what food truck do you like?

The Deutsche Post DHL Group subsidiary claims its new digital road freight platform is the continent’s first.

Online freight logistics startup Shipwell has made all of its functionalities available through the REST API, which allows companies to integrate all or some parts of the functionalities into their own workflows.

London-based logistics startup tailored to ease e-commerce returns.

AI-powered driver behavior monitoring startup Nauto has launched a real-time, in-vehicle solution that helps reduce driver distraction on the road through targeted alerts and coaching.

On October 29, Bloomberg published an article by Dina Bass, “The ‘Uber for Trucking’ Tries to Navigate Some Uber-Scale Problems.” That was followed by Craig Fuller’s article, Is winter coming for the super-hot FreightTech space?, which ran in FreightWaves on November 3. It would be worth it to read both articles if you have any […]

An exclusive interview with Greece’s Ioannis Martinos on what’s next for Signal Ocean.

FreightTech venture investing is red hot right now, with the industry attracting more capital than ever. Will this end?

ItsMyCargo is a German technology startup that is looking to sell software to traditional maritime freight forwarders who can use technology to compete against recently launched digital freight forwarders.

ElasticRun is an Indian logistics startup that connects convenience stores within specific regions and relays goods between them based on demand and lull times.

French freight technology startup Everoad has forged a strategic partnership with French mass-retailer Groupe Casino to help digitalize its supply chain.

InstaFreight is a digital forwarding company that enables seamless logistics and provides shippers with greater visibility into road freight movement.

Venture capital investment in the logistics sector has seen a steady rise in the last decade and shows no signs of abating in the near future.

HaulHub is a logistics startup in the aggregate and asphalt industry that helps producers, carriers and construction crews collaborate together over a centralized platform.

Charley Dehoney writes about Jelani Hawkins, a former NFL player who has gone into trucking. Read about his new career.

Flytrex is an Israeli on-demand small payload drone delivery company that will be delivering products ordered online straight to the consumers’ house.

Meal-kit delivery company HelloFresh leverages data from last-mile movement and consumer feedback to make its deliveries precise and error-free.

Instead of providing square footage for dine-in customers, five restaurant operations will use the kitchen solely to prepare the food for delivery through DoorDash’s app.

Market Voice Brian Aoaeh has a fascinating interview with Wolfgang Lehmacher,, an expert on global supply chains (and much more)!

As a venture capitalist himself, Dan Conner shared what he believes every founder should know when seeking to raise capital.

Motiv Power Systems, which converts medium-duty trucks from gasoline to run on zero-emission electricity from batteries, is getting $60 million in equity funding from Winnebago Industries Inc. and a private holding company in Colorado.

Maritime carriers are leaving up to US$110 on the table every time they carry a box, according to research from startup MizzenIT. And that means ocean carriers could be missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars a year simply by not charging the right price.

Since 2018, Revel has expanded its fleets into Brooklyn, Queens and Washington, D.C. and plans to reach 10 cities by 2020.

Since writing about the challenges ahead for food supply chains, I have been thinking about how perishable foods and other items are transported from one part of the world to another. What is the role for new technologies in global supply chains for perishable products? The question gnaws at me each time I am in […]

Spanish capital Madrid is working on a blockchain-powered transport application that unifies all mobility systems across the city and provides high levels of data security to its users.

List of titles that founders in the FreightTech revolution should consider

Bird CEO Travis VanderZanden said that for the past year, positive unit economics has been Bird’s top priority for a sustainable long-term business. This is an ideology that departs from that of many startups and emerging companies whose focus seems to be on top line growth and revenue building.

Self-driving cars from a U.K. startup Oxbotica took to Stratford’s streets earlier this week, successfully wading through traffic and proving itself safe to navigate in an urban setting.

Deepscale’s focus on computer vision to give cars “sight” is different from light detection and ranging (LIDAR).

Postmates just announced a partnership with Walgreens and Duane Read stores – all 174 of them – in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

A newly published ag-sector report suggests that the lab-grown meat segment will shrink the industrial animal farming market by 50% by 2030.

Imagine if Uber and public transit had a baby.

Hong Kong-based 300cubits is suspending its platform after it failed to generate sustained interest within the maritime logistics space due to issues with interoperability and government regulations.

Lyft wants to be a one-stop-shop for all urban transit options, which might turn Google Maps into more of a competitor than Uber.

Fatigue symptoms can be gathered by measuring the brain waves of truckers, which can be used to sound early warnings before drivers show visible signs of fatigue.

BlaBlaCar sees this acquisition as a unifying opportunity for Eastern Europe’s fragmented market under a single platform to meet a greater diversity of rider needs.

The new platform focuses on collaboration, workflow automation, and allows users to define business priorities.

Revenue growth on negative unit economics is dead as a business model.

Parade helps freight brokers automate workflows, scale relationship management and grow digital bookings.

Lime’s shift away from car-sharing allows the company to transition into Seattle’s first electric-scooter-share pilot.

When a company raises a significant amount of capital this close to its public offering, it could reflect cash insecurity or the basic desire to raise its valuation.

Businesses will pay up to 14% more on logistics-related temporary jobs during the upcoming holiday season.

Last-mile freight delivery might involve drivers to act as assemblers, helping set up products like furniture and home appliances. These driver-assemblers have specific skill sets that could never be fully automated.

Wunder Mobility has raised $29 million in an extended Series B round and is channeling it towards expanding its geographic footprint and suite of mobility solutions.

Public blockchain-based logistics document transaction platform CargoX has integrated with private blockchain-based digital freight management platform RoadLaunch to provide users greater visibility and transparency into logistics operations.

Autonomous vehicles would need to process both visual and non-visual data derived from their driving environment to be in control. Understanding data streams that flow through the vehicle sensors is key to its functioning.

While retirement communities have provided a controlled baseline to deploy their services, Voyage does not plan to stop there.

Forager wants to solve borders for shippers and transportation providers.

Good things come in threes.  Following a $700 million raise led by Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) in February and another $500 million investment from Ford in April, electric-vehicle maker Rivian has hit the jackpot once again, announcing on Sept. 10 that it received a $350 million equity investment from global automotive services giant Cox Automotive. “We […]

Volocopter builds autonomous electric air-taxis that resemble drones for short transits over urban spaces.

Digitalization comes with its share of problems and it is vital for businesses to understand what the technology means before they go ahead and adopt it within their operations.

Daimler Trucks is moving closer to its goal of commercially producing Level 4 autonomous trucks with public road testing in Virginia.

Risk-averse money is still entering the FreightTech space.

In late August, Uber installed several self-service kiosks at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

The raise suggests the mobility market is shifting in favor of companies that directly connect people to vehicles.

Nikola Corp. revealed two more funding sources of its heavy-duty fuel cell truck on Thursday, September 5. German supplier Robert Bosch LLC and South Korean solar panel maker Hanwha Group each invested at least $100 million cash in earlier funding rounds.

Logistics startups are using data science and mobile technologies to connect grocery shoppers with local farmers.

FreightWaves has become the number one source of data and market insights in freight for one reason: our people.

As a medium of shared mobility. e-scooters are finding wider acceptance in Germany, but it is yet to be seen if they can decrease street traffic.

Nikola Corp. expects to raise more than $1 billion in its Series D runding raising. That starts with London-based CNH Industrial that invested $250 million in cash and in-kind help.

TruckIT connects dump truck supply with demand through its marketplace, which helps contractors to plan their needs better and truckers to make more money in the process.

The London-based startup is helping ships to optimize their port docking time, allowing them to sail early and save on fuel by sailing slower.

FreightTech venture investing is super hot, but most of these startups continue to lose money. Is this a fad or something else?  Last year, FreightWaves created a FreightTech Venture Index to track the venture capital (VC) investing in FreightTech startups. The term FreightTech is defined loosely as software companies and other technologies that aid in […]

With enough investor capital and vision, profit might not matter as much as analysts think.

Analysts and investors wait to hear about Amazon’s expanded presence in Southeast Asia and on-demand services.

Last-mile movement is one of the least energy-efficient operations within supply chains, and efforts need to be taken to consciously reduce energy expended in that stretch.

Mixed reality smart glasses allow workers to become hands-free with logistics operations, helping them to focus solely on the package at hand.

A new study finds that e-scooters’ environmental footprint surpasses that of the transportation they are positioned to replace.

Elroy Air, an aerial autonomy and logistics company, announced the completion of its first full-scale system flight test at an airfield in California.

Anthony Levandowski, a star engineer at Google and Uber, is charged with 33 counts of theft and attempted theft in a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday, August 27.

Transport and logistics businesses need to seriously consider investing in digitalization if they want to stay afloat in this rapidly evolving market.

Lime moves ahead with the backing of venture capital and hopes that car-reliant metropolitan areas like San Antonio will embrace a cleaner, more communal way to navigate city life.

With the recent complaints about workers’ rights, it makes sense that Doordash, like every other on-demand mobility company, is thinking about efficiency and the cost of human labor.

Israeli startup TriEye has received investment from German carmaker Porsche as part of its $19 million Series A round of financing.

Maersk is partnering with Indian digital freight startup BlackBuck to enter the Indian containerized trucking market for export-import logistics.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to acquire up to 8 percent of fast-growing e-commerce fulfillment company.

Since Uber went public in May 2019, journalists and analysts have sharpened their skepticism regarding the viability of the company’s sweeping ambition and future-reliant success. A 23 percent drop in the company’s stock shares (as of August 19) and its second quarter loss of $5 billion, mostly due to stock-based compensation, cause investors to wonder […]

The funding coincides with the launch of an artificial intelligence solution that detects stop sign violations.

A Chicago startup has proposed using crane rails to move containers in and out of terminals to ease congestion in the era of mega-ships.

Kobo360 is one of the most recognized FreightTech players in Africa, helping shippers connect with carriers in a market riddled with severe visibility and transparency concerns.

There are a dozen electric scooter companies in Paris, and the city has seen enough of the impact that an unregulated e-bike market can create on the city roads.

Traffic congestion in the developing world is driving a flourishing on-demand bus market.

Shifting rules at marine terminals pose challenge to drayage.

U.K.-based Deliveroo is exiting Germany, citing difficulties in maintaining the level of customer service that it offers across its other markets.

FreightBro is a digital enabler that helps digitalize and automate several manual operations within the shipping industry, tailored to suit small- and mid-tier freight forwarders.

EIV Capital, a Houston firm that invests in energy businesses, recently helped raise $75 million in funding that will research turning dairy cattle’s recycled cow manure into usable, clean energy products. The funding will be used by Amp Americas, a Chicago-based startup that is researching how to transform animal waste and convert it into biogas, […]

If you see a truck driver in Texas without his hands on the wheel, the chances are good you’re seeing an autonomous truck from Kodiak Robotics.

Canadian digital-freight matching platform seeks to list on TSX Venture Exchange with “conservative” C$34 million valuation.

A student team from Germany’s TU Munich achieved a top speed of 463 kmph (288 mph) on its prototype pod at the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod competition.

sennder has now raised nearly €100 million this year across two rounds of funding.

Fretlink connects thousands of carriers with large shippers through a digital freight marketplace that offers reliability on service and freight hauling prices.

Consumer enthusiasm and sky-high valuations disguise a bevy of industry challenges.

There is an abundance of data coming out of food supply chains, and it is important for stakeholders to verify and validate these data points and leverage blockchain to functionally push supply chains forward.