On-demand warehousing and distribution startup STORD has acquired transportation provider Cove Logistics to further expand its capabilities, which now includes freight services.
In a statement, Sean Henry, the CEO of STORD, explained that the company was on a mission to help companies build and scale optimized, cloud-based supply chains. “Since our launch, we have been laser-focused on improving our customers’ warehousing networks to optimize the placement of their inventory,” he said.
Today, STORD counts on large shipping partners like Dollar General, Advance Auto Parts, Intertape Polymer Group, Crystal Geyser, Owens Corning, among others. FreightWaves spoke with Jacob Boudreau, the founder and CTO of STORD, to discuss the acquisition and its impact on the company’s recent advent into freight hauling services.
“Our vision is to act as the cloud for physical distribution. While working with customers, we really saw a need around freight movement, given how critical it is as a piece of distribution. To fulfill the order-to-ship lifecycle for our customers, we organically grew our freight capabilities because they were a significant value add to our customers. This ultimately led to us acquiring Cove Logistics,” said Boudreau.
Boudreau explained that Cove’s key values are parallel to STORD’s values. Founded by a former UPS Freight executive, Cove quickly grew to accommodate a carrier base with over 15,000 drivers, successfully hauling tens of thousands of shipments every year. “Cove provides a 100% commitment guarantee on its loads, which means that they will ship a load regardless of whether the haul remains profitable or not,” said Boudreau.
The acquisition of Cove has helped STORD to float freight services, lending credence to the company’s goal of creating an end-to-end platform that vertically integrates downstream.
“Incorporating a new team with different capabilities into a company is arguably the hardest part of any acquisition,” said Boudreau. “But we’ve seen strong adoption across the board – both with customers brought into storage via Cove and customers that STORD had prior to acquiring Cove that now ship freight.”
This integration will benefit users who can now consolidate their operations over a single platform. STORD provides instant pricing and enhanced visibility into inventory management, while also providing a variety of shipping options including full truckload freight, less than truckload freight, and intermodal shipping.
“This not only gives us the ability to serve our customers end-to-end, but enables us to automate many of the most challenging and manual operations for our shippers – such as dock appointment scheduling and driver waiting time,” commented Henry. “When your warehouses and carriers operate as part of the same, agile network, on the same platform, those friction points are removed, leading to increased efficiency and savings.”