Uber planning to spin out Postmates’ delivery robot arm
Another Uber spinout is in the works.
Postmates X, the robotics division of the on-demand delivery startup that Uber acquired last year for $2.65 billion, is seeking investors in its bid to become a separate company, according to several people familiar with the plans.
The startup is being referred to as Serve Robotics, a nod to the yellow and black-emblazoned autonomous sidewalk delivery bot that was developed and piloted by Postmates X. The Serve robot, which recently partnered with Pink Dot Stores for deliveries in West Hollywood, will likely be the centerpiece of the new startup.
Digital road freight forwarder Sennder raises $160M Series, plans European expansion
Sennder, a large digital road freight forwarder based out of Germany, has raised $160 million in Series D financing. The round was led by an unnamed party, but round participants included Accel, Lakestar, HV Capital, Project A and Scania. Sources say Hedosophia may be the unnamed growth investor, although Sennder declined to comment. To date, Sennder has raised more than $260 million, allowing it to lay claim to a potential $1 billion valuation.
Sennder directly connects enterprise shippers with trucking companies, thus disintermediating the traditional freight model. It says it will move over 1 million truckloads this year. So far it has concentrated on the lucrative European market. In June 2020 it merged with French competitor Everoad, and acquired Uber Freight’s European business last September. The European logistics and freight sector has a market size of $427 billion.
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It has been quite a year for Uber Freight, even as some analysts who follow the parent company of
Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) continue to ask whether a digital load-matching platform fits with the bigger transportation disrupter.
The highlight of the year for Uber Freight, which is ranked 22nd on the FreightWaves FreightTech 25 list of disruptive and innovative companies, was taking on a half-billion-dollar investment.
That investment of $500 million from an investor group led by Greenbriar Equity Group valued the company at $3.3 billion. (To give that a sense of scale, industry leader C.H. Robinson had a market capitalization in mid-December of about $12.5 billion.)
FourKites Closes Out a Record Year of Innovation, Growth and Market Expansion
CHICAGO, Dec. 16, 2020
®, the #1 real-time supply chain visibility platform, today announced significant growth numbers for 2020, as the company and its global community of shippers, carriers, brokers and 3PLs increasingly turned to real-time supply chain visibility to manage the unprecedented disruptions spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the challenges, FourKites and its community introduced a slew of new innovations that the industry leveraged to improve delivery times, reduce detention, optimize labor and protect workers.
Growth According to Gartner, by 2023, 50% of leading global enterprises will have invested in real-time transportation visibility solutions
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SAN DIEGO, Dec. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ On June 25, 2020, the Muslim Coalition for America (MCA) announced its COVID-19 Relief Task Force to deliver urgently needed personal protective equipment (PPE) to America s most vulnerable populations. With face masks retailing at $5-18 per piece, a serious economic burden is placed on our most vulnerable populations and low-income families to stay safer.
MCA is committed to ensuring lower income families and underprivileged children can be safer while engaging in productive activities. MCA is partnering with Uber Freight to donate approximately 620,000 face masks to Boys & Girls Clubs of America this week so that Club constituents across America can more safely participate in programming conducted in person across 4,700 sites serving more than 4.6 million young people. Boys & Girls Clubs of America is filling a critical gap for thousands of youth as schools remain closed for in-person learning. With this donation, hundreds of thou