To logisticians

In the now and future of logistics, I aim to provide an in-depth analysis of the news, trends, and technology happening in the logistics & supply chain space in under 5 minutes or less.

The goal is to keep logisticians in the know of what is happening in the industry. For weekly news expect them Monday and Thursday while in-depth analysis on select topics in the space: Wednesday and Sunday.

In today’s Inbox:

• In the box; Zipline, Evermile, Project44…

• E-commerce logistics: EasyShip and Amazon Fresh

• Technology: Transportation payment solution and Hyperlocal

• Old guards: Tyson Foods and Daimler Trucks

Let’s dive in.

Silent reading time: 4 mins 28 secs | 1,064 words

In the Box

Zipline to hit $4.2 billion valuation

The South San-Francisco-based drone delivery start-up Zipline is raising $330 million according to a filing from Forbes.

In the wake of drastically reduced funding for start-ups, Zipline sets itself apart from others. The drone delivery company will be valued at $4.2 billion, a 55% increase from $2.7 billion from previous funding.

In the Series F funding, the company made no mention of the leading investors, however in a statement, the company mentioned the new funding.

Some notable past investors included: Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Katalyst Ventures, GV, Pactolus Ventures, Emerging Capital Partners, and Reinvent Capital.

Evermile raised $6million seed funding

The UK-based claims to simplify and automate deliveries for small businesses recently raised $6 million.

The start-up’s goal is to take on complex and expensive delivery providers like DPD, Veho, Hived, and Royal Mail and provide enterprise-grade logistics to local businesses.

The funding was led by 10D with the participation of the following investors:

• Mench Capital Partners

• Fred Destin ( ex-board member of Deliveroo)

• Ziv Paz ( co-founder Melio)

The start-up currently has over 300+ local merchants across different industries in the UK including; flower shops, wine stores, local bakeries, and more.

Arbe Robotics strikes partnership with KargoBot

The DiDi’s autonomous freight delivery arm, KargoBot strikes a strategic partnership with Arbe Robotics and Weifu Hgh-Technology to provide 4D Imaging Radars based on the Arbe proprietary chipset.

The three parties aim to build a cooperation platform in China to jointly promote commercial R&D applications in the autonomous trucking space.

Project44 launches AI assistant for supply chain

The supply chain visibility platform Project44 recently launched Movement GPT -a new artificial intelligence(AI) to help supply chain professionals enhance their work.

Project44 is able to launch the generative AI due to its large datasets gathered from tracking over one billion shipments representing $ 1 trillion customer inventory from across 181 countries.

Movement GPT enables users to conversationally within the platform, allowing them to dynamically identify shipments using natural language, saving time, improving the overall user experience, and training models to become supply chain experts in the process.

E-commerce Logistics

Easyship partners with eBay

The leading e-commerce logistics software; Easyship recently partnered with eBay International Shipping to connect millions of buyers and sellers from around the world.

The Easyship APIs will continue supporting eBay's various services including cross-border compliance and tracking.

“Our technology and expertise in borderless eCommerce & smart logistics with eBay’s roadmap enable us to now build a world-class logistics solution together. Easyship provides the infrastructure of eBay International Shipping and we are excited to expand our footprint of logistics-enhanced e-commerce together, truly democratizing border-free sales for merchants of all sizes.” -Easyship co-founder Augustin Ceyrac

Amazon Fresh for Amazon Market

On a recent call to analyze the e-commerce giant’s first-quarter earnings call, the CEO Andy Jassy recently hinted that the company’s Amazon Fresh is likely to be replaced with a new concept dabbed Amazon Market.

“We wish we were further along at this point. We’ve tried lots of ideas. We haven’t yet found conviction around the format that we want to go expand much more broadly.”

Aside from the numerous experiments the company has conducted in the brick-and-mortar space, Amazon remains confident in its physical presence according to Jassy.

Technology

Payment solution for the transportation sector

The American business service provider; Conduent is now offering real-time payments over the RTP Network for the transportation network.

The RTP network technology is powered by the company in collaboration with BNY Mellon to allow tolling agencies to send invoices and receive payments in minutes.

“Building on our leadership positions in government payments and tolling, our Digital Integrated Payments Hub now makes it possible to extend real-time payments to tolling agencies and those they serve, as well as other transportation segments and activities requiring billing and payments,” - Conduent President of Transportation Solutions Lou Keyes

Hyperlocal delivery revolution

The growing e-commerce demand for instant delivery has prompted the build-up of hyperlocal networks.

According to Economic Times, hyperlocal networks involve collaborating with shoppers, local manufacturers, and logistics vendors to procure, ship, and fulfill orders.

When it comes to hyperlocal deliveries, technology is at the core. This includes live tracking, AI-powered route mapping, and more.

Old Guards

Tyson Foods

The recent partnership between C.R England Inc and Kodiak Robotics is launching an autonomous trucking pilot program for Tyson Foods - the processing giant.

The deliveries with Kodiak Robotics using C.R trucks is a piece of the puzzle according to Tyson Foods in its goal and reliability.

Daimler Trucks

The trucking automotive giant has rolled-out Rizon- a new U.S. focused on medium-duty electric trucks.

On the eve of California regulators’ voting on whether to let fleets purchase 5%-10% EVs beginning in 2024. The introduction of Rizon was showcased at the IAA Transportation in Germany last September.

That is it for now.

Since you found the newsletter worthwhile, kindly share it with a friend.

To more tech in logistics.

Okerosi.