J.B. Hunt Transport Inc. and UP.Labs launched the Logistics Venture Lab (LVL), a logistics and freight-focused lab that aims to launch as many as six startups over the next three years to solve core strategic challenges within the industry.
"From the inception of modern intermodal transit to digital freight matching platforms to emerging safety technology and beyond, J.B. Hunt has always been people focused, technology empowered and capacity driven, and we’ve been on an innovation journey since our founding in 1961,” says Shelley Simpson, president and CEO at J.B. Hunt. “Our collaboration with UP.Labs will continue this journey as we look for new ways to disrupt, adapt and accelerate across the transportation industry."
“I’m thrilled to be collaborating with J.B. Hunt, a leader in the transportation and logistics industry. Through the Logistics Venture Lab, we will launch startups rooted in big data, GenAI, and emerging technologies to solve industry problems with some of the world's best entrepreneurs,” says John Kuolt, founder and CEO of UP.Labs. “Having successfully collaborated with Porsche AG, Alaska Airlines and an undisclosed retail corporate partner, we’re excited to bring our unique venture lab model to a new transportation sector – logistics and freight.”
Key takeaways:
- The startups, the first of which the companies target to begin launching in 2025, are inspired by opportunities to drive efficiency and solve common problems faced by providers in the logistics and freight transportation space. They will focus on key industry service areas such as brokerage, dedicated, intermodal and truckload, among others.
- UP.Labs is a venture lab and a core part of the UP.Partners ecosystem, which includes mobility investment fund UP.Ventures and the annual UP.Summit.
