On Thursday, Lineage Logistics, the world’s largest cold storage industrial REIT, announced a formal partnership with logistics technology venture capital firm 8VC to jointly invest in–and even “revolutionize”–the transportation and logistics technology sector.
The partnership marks the formalization of a longer standing strategic alliance between the companies, which have co-invested in various companies over 8VC’s past three funds and integrated 8VC portfolio companies across the Lineage platform. Via Lineage Ventures, the logistics firm’s own corporate venture capital arm, Lineage and 8VC have previously scaled startups such as Project44, Trackonomy, and Baton.
The new alliance will focus on accelerating innovation in the supply chain. With Lineage Ventures becoming an LP in 8VC’s most recent fund, both companies plan to increase their joint investments in cutting-edge supply chain technology start-ups, and support existing companies in their respective portfolios by leveraging their combined network effect and relationships. They also plan to co-develop technology together, including “productizing” some of Lineage’s most promising intellectual property.
“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 8VC Co-founder and Partner, Jake Medwell. “We have so much more to build and are exponentially more powerful working together. I am honored to call them a partner.”
Temperature-controlled logistics
“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 Sudarsan Thattai, Lineage’s Chief Information Officer. “This industry-first partnership aims to redefine enterprise technology in the temperature-controlled logistics sector. We aspire to create new products across automation, digital brokerage, supply chain visibility and planning, as well as industrial hardware/software that drives better customer experience.”
As part of this alliance, Medwell will be joining Lineage as an Advisor, and Thattai will be joining 8VC as an Advisor. These co-advisory roles are intended to deepen their collaboration within this large and complex ecosystem.
As Lineage’s Advisor, Medwell will bring to bear longstanding relationships and partnerships with Schneider National, Daimler, Koch Industries, and others. In addition, he draws on what the company calls a “carefully curated and trusted advisory board” which includes industry luminaries such as Chris Sultemeier, former CEO of Walmart Logistics; Alan Gershenhorn, former CCO of UPS; Andrew Clarke, former CFO of C.H. Robinson Worldwide; Shaleen Devgun, CIO of Schneider National Inc. and Michael McLary, former President of T.L. Brokerage at Amazon.
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