Supply chain tech is plotting a modest comeback.
VC investment in the vertical has been on the rise for the last two quarters, according to PitchBook’s Q2 2024 Supply Chain Tech Report. In Q2, $2.4 billion was generated from 167 deals, up 12.7% and 15.2%, respectively, from the previous quarter’s total of $2.1 billion across 145 deals.
The industry has been buoyed by startups raising impressive sums in recent months. Fleet management service startup Platform Science raised $125 million of growth capital from investors including 8VC and Prologis Ventures in April while Waabi, a self-driving truck startup, raised a $200 million Series B led by Uber and Khosla Ventures in June.
Driving the growth in supply chain tech is the last-mile delivery segment. These startups work at the final stages of the process, focusing on the distribution of goods from hubs. The segment has been generating the most capital within the vertical for the past few quarters.
The market map below explores the last-mile delivery segment, highlighting the startups and focus areas attracting investors’ capital. Click on the teal tile for more details.
To go deeper, read our Q2 2024 Supply Chain Tech Report. PitchBook customers can also explore the full market map with data on more than 2,200 companies.
Spotlight: Last-mile delivery
PitchBook analysts have broken out last-mile delivery into five categories:
- Delivery services: Services offered through apps that target the final stages of supply chain fulfillment.
- Ultrafast delivery: Fulfillment of impulse and time-sensitive requests like food, alcohol, pharmaceuticals and other items through service nodes and distribution centers.
- Autonomous delivery: The servicing of supply chain requests, whether it be ecommerce or repeat purchases through autonomous means.
- Drones and eVTOL logistics: The development, deployment and commercialization of rapid delivery drone networks and other aircraft that are dispatched from warehouses and distribution centers.
- Reverse logistics: Services that handle the coordination of ecommerce and retail returns.
VC dealmaking in the supply chain tech category is picking back up, with two consecutive quarters of growth. As of the end of June, 312 deals have generated $4.5 billion this year, tracking below last year’s total of $10 billion across 833 deals.
In Q2, the last-mile delivery segment raised $660.5 million from 20 deals, a decrease from the previous quarter’s total of $915.8 million across 21 deals.
There have been some notable deals in the sector, however. Skyports Infrastructure, a drone and vertiport infrastructure startup, raised more than $110 million in April from ACS Group. Food delivery startups also bagged some impressive raises: Flink, a German grocery delivery service, raised $106 million in new funding, and food delivery app developer Getir received $250 million from Mubadala.
Exit activity has been muted in the supply chain tech sector in what has been a difficult IPO environment overall. So far in 2024 only $400 million has been generated across 28 transactions. Most notably RIAMB Technology, a Chinese logistics technology startup, went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange early in the year. The only noteworthy acquisition so far this year was the roughly $23 million purchase of Italian grocery delivery startup Everli by Palella Holdings.
Featured image by J Studios/Getty Images
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