Lineage, 8VC Announce Alliance To Advance Supply Chain Innovation

The world's largest temperature-controlled facility operator, Lineage Logistics, and the tech-focused venture capital firm 8VC announced Thursday a strategic alliance "to invest in promising technology startups that drive the transportation and logistics industry forward."

The companies have worked together in the past through Lineage's tech investment arm, Lineage Ventures, to propel logistics startups like global supply chain visibility platforms project44 and Trackonomy and digital drop-freight startup Baton.

Lineage also uses the technologies offered by 8VC's other portfolio companies across its network.

The alliance plans to speed up the evolution of supply chain innovation. The companies plan to commence joint investment in supply chain tech startups and will look to co-develop technology, "including productizing some of Lineage's most promising intellectual property," according to the press release.

"As Lineage has grown, so has its commitment to use technology and partner with the best technology companies to help eliminate waste in the supply chain and support customer growth, making them one of the most impressive and forward-thinking companies I have come across in my career," said Jake Medwell, 8VC co-founder and partner. "We have so much more to build and are exponentially more powerful working together."

Some of the new creations on tap include tech-enabled products in automation, digital brokerage and supply chain visibility.

The press release said that Medwell is joining Lineage as an adviser and that Lineage's CIO, Sudarsan Thattai, will be joining 8VC in the same capacity.

"Lineage's vision is to be the world's most dynamic temperature-controlled logistics company, so it is natural for us to unite with 8VC, whose mission is to partner with top founders and entrepreneurs to build lasting technology platforms and create long-term economic and societal value," said Thattai.

8VC utilizes an ecosystem of partners and advisers throughout the supply chain to identify impactful technologies and the startups behind them to put capital to work.   

"Lineage brings another dimension to this as they are leaders in size, scale, and technology capability with a strong appetite for collaboration," the press release stated.

"Working with Jake has helped our entire technology team, including the industry's first and only data science team, advance our technology roadmap and increase our exposure to the most exciting new technologies," added Thattai. "They know how to build and rapidly scale companies. They understand how we think and are willing to take risks alongside us."

8VC was recently named the top venture capital investor in supply chain tech by PitchBook, with 25 deals secured since 2018. Last month, the Austin, Texas-based firm filed with the SEC for two new funds, which are expected to raise more than $1.5 billion.

Lineage and 8VC are hoping to "revolutionize the transportation and logistics technology sector" through the alliance.

Click for more FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden.

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