Four years ago, Ryder Chairman and CEO Robert Sanchez saw disruption headed for the transportation and logistics sector. So Sanchez challenged his team: let’s become a leader in finding and funding innovations destined to transform our industry.
The mission Ryder embarked upon has begun making an impact. The most recent result is RyderVentures. The venture capital fund from the 87+ year-old logistics leader is actively investing $50 million over the next five years in next-generation applications in need of investment to help drive their success.
“A business can either be disrupted, or be the disruptor of its industry,” said Karen Jones, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer with Ryder, the leader in commercial supply chain solutions, dedicated transportation, and fleet management. “Commitments like those being made by RyderVentures can make a big difference for very small but very imaginative startups.”
Even before the pandemic, transportation, logistics, warehousing and distribution were among the nation’s - and world’s - fastest growing industrial sectors. Then e-commerce spiked, highlighting the need to move products even more efficiently across the supply chain.
Ryder isn’t alone in making a financial commitment to the logistics sector, Jones noted. In 2019 investors poured over $11 billion in supply chain tech, according to Pitchbook’s most recent Supply Chain Technology report. In 2020, the number grew to $12.6 billion. So far in 2021, investments have skyrocketed with venture capital investments in supply chain tech startups totaling $7.7 billion across Q1 2021.
With RyderVentures, the company is targeting core areas essential to Ryder’s focus and growth initiatives: asset sharing, e-commerce fulfillment, next-generation vehicles, supply chain automation, data and analytics, and transportation and supply chain technology.
Well before anouncing RyderVentures, the company was a disruptor. In 2018, it launched COOP by Ryder®. The asset sharing application that connects vehicle owners with idle trucks and shippers in need of vehicles. Think Turo or Airbnb for trucks. In its first month, COOP had 100 trucks on its COOP platform operating in one state, today COOP has more than 6,000 vehicles on its platform and operates in 9 states Another innovative product in the area of digitizing the supply chain is RyderShare™ which is a digital platform providing end-to-end visibility and collaboration on goods as they move through the supply chain. It is helping Ryder’s customers provide better customer service to their customers and to date has over 2 million shipments that have passed through its innovative platform.
Since 2017, Ryder has invested in other accelerator and VC funds in the transportation and logistics industry. Its sponsorship of global startup ecosystem and venture fund accelerator Plug and Play is facilitating development of early-to-growth stage technology startups in 12 verticals, including the ground transport space. The company is also a limited partner in venture capital group Autotech Ventures, who is focused on investing in mobility tech startups. Both of these investments continue to bring new startup opportunities into Ryder’s investment pipeline.
The internal RyderVentures team now is reviewing hundreds of companies eager for investment. Of five investments made to date, two already are changing the market. Miami-based SmartHop is an AI-powered "business-in-a-box" platform that empowers small trucking companies and owner-operators to effectively identify and bid on freight - and streamline their costs. Jones called it a “democratization of the small carrier business.”
A second business, Baton, is creating a network of drop-off zones that allow drivers to drop their loads without waiting for warehouse bays to become available - freeing up otherwise wasted hours and keeping drivers and freight in motion.
The three other investments include exploring automation of the “middle mile” of over-the-road transit, the use of data analytics to move e-commerce micro-fulfillment closer to consumers, and a carbon-capture application for the trucking industry.
Beyond financial investment, Ryder is sharing with startups its expertise across all areas of transportation and logistics. Moreover, its fleet of 235, 000 vehicles allows start-ups to test and prove their concepts.
“We have so much to offer start-ups that are really strong at developing technology, but might be new to logistics," Jones said. “As a breeding and testing ground for transportation and logistics disruption, we’ll help create next-generation winners and drive greater value for our customers and industry by leveraging the capabilities of Ryder."
To learn more, visit RyderVentures at https://ryder.com/ryderventures