As a result of his proven success helping lead the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ), a first-of-its-kind “do tank,” Hillwood’s senior vice president of aviation business development, Christopher Ash, was recently appointed to the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Advisory Committee, a new subset of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).
Created as a part of the Texas Senate Bill 763, which was passed earlier this year, the UAM Advisory Committee is tasked with assessing the current state law and facilitating the development of UAM operations and infrastructure in Texas.
“As a central leader within the MIZ, Chris has a deep understanding of mobility innovation, bringing TxDOT the expertise and testing capabilities it needs to facilitate UAM advancements across the region,” said Tom Harris, executive vice president at Hillwood. “Serving in an influential role within the Advisory Committee, Chris will be able to connect industry leaders operating within the MIZ directly with the public sector, ensuring that a collaborative partnership is cultivated between all stakeholders.”
Leveraging his experience with the MIZ, Chris will help TxDOT comprehensively scale and, ultimately commercialize UAM technologies and uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) operations and prepare the DFW Metroplex to become a hub for UAM by 2025. The Committee plans to present UAM recommendations to the state legislature in September 2022 and begin shaping the first laws and regulations in 2023.
With an unparalleled testing ecosystem, the MIZ offers mobility visionaries, including Bell, Wing, TuSimple, Gatik, ITS ConGlobal, Phantom Auto, Einride, and Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), the ability to accelerate the development and commercialization of new technologies. Specifically, the Flight Test Center, which Chris manages for Hillwood and Fort Worth Alliance Airport, allows public and private stakeholders to test urban UAM and UAS solutions that can be used to inform the future regulatory framework in suburban and urban settings for the UAM Advisory Committee.
About the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone
The AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) is a unique landscape built on collaboration and opportunity. That combination works to connect people, places and ideas that push innovation in surface and air mobility forward. By leveraging its one-of-a-kind infrastructure, the MIZ offers mobility visionaries full access to an unparalleled ecosystem, resources and partnerships essential to comprehensively test, scale, and commercialize the latest technologies. AllianceTexas itself is an unparalleled 27,000-acre regional success story and has transformed the North Texas economy by connecting it to global industry. Hillwood’s AllianceTexas development is anchored by the world’s first dedicated industrial airport, Fort Worth Alliance Airport, and hosts one of the nation’s premier intermodal hubs. AllianceTexas is also home to more than 533 companies which have built more than 53 million square feet and created over 63,000 jobs. For more information, please visit alliancetexasmiz.com and alliancetexas.com.
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ITS ConGlobal is rolling out remote trucking operations within the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone. Powered by PhantomAuto, the partnership enables workers to train and operate heavy machinery remotely.
Leveraging artificial intelligence and remote automation, Rene Etcharren, ITS ConGlobal senior vice president and director general, believes remote operations is the future of safe industrial work.
D CEO: What benefits does remote trucking have economically, environmentally, and logistically over traditional trucking?
ETCHARREN: “We operate in complex, industrial terminal environments, making human insight and control of our equipment critical to workplace safety and operational productivity. Phantom gives our truck operators control to execute maneuvers anywhere, as if on-site.
“Using Phantom’s remote operation software, our yard truck drivers can operate more than one piece of equipment. For example, a driver can make a single move with one piece of equipment at site A and then park the equipment. Next, they can remote into another piece of equipment at site B. This operational flexibility has a tremendous impact in terms of service reliability, safety, and cost control.
“The remote operation workflows will enhance our labor productivity resulting in substantial efficiency, increased vehicle utilization and improved workplace safety.”
D CEO: Can you touch on the future of remote trucking and AI and how ITS ConGlobal remote trucking will help alleviate supply chain issues?
ETCHARREN: “A key contributor to today’s supply chain challenges is the mismatch between consumer demand and the availability of a workforce in each leg of the supply chain. Warehouse and distribution center employees process the cargo inside the containers and trailers. The work we do at ITSC is an integral part of moving freight to and from those warehouses and distribution centers. While WH and DC employees work inside, our employees work outside, around the clock, in all types of environments. Using remote truck operations allows us to create a similar environment to WH and DC operations. We can bring operators inside from the outdoor production environment, which helps us attract and retain employees that might not otherwise see themselves as industrial equipment operators.”
D CEO: What sets the Mobility Innovation Zone platform apart and how does it help push the needle toward increased worker safety and efficiency?
ETCHARREN: “Innovation isn’t driven only by devices and code; it’s the process of taking ideas from inception to impact. ITS ConGlobal believes there is no better place than the MIZ to execute this process and move supply chain leaders such as ourselves from research and development, to testing and deploying our technology solutions. The AllianceTexas MIZ’s multi-modal platform is helping us commercialize and scale Phantom’s remote operation platform, optimize our AI-infused advanced gate operations system, SIGHT.io, create operational playbooks with our proprietary, predictive load planning algorithm, and harness equipment telematics for improved fleet utilization and driver safety.”
The company is rolling out real-time commercialization of the latest in logistics technology by partnering with Phantom Auto
ITS ConGlobal (ITSC), America’s leading operator of intermodal, finished vehicle and depot services terminals, announced today that the company is rolling out remote trucking operations within the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) powered by Phantom Auto (Phantom). Developed with worker safety and efficiency top of mind, ITSC’s expansion of their Phantom partnership enables workers to train and operate heavy machinery remotely.
“Over the last year and a half, we’ve seen the strain the COVID-19 pandemic has put on the supply chain, and in order to become more resilient, efficient and future-ready, we have fast-tracked our testing and roll-out of technologies such as artificial intelligence, remote operations and automation,” said Rene Etcharren, senior vice president of ITSC. “ITSC’s partnership with Phantom enhances safety, customer service, operational efficiency and resilience.”
ITSC’s container depot is strategically located in AllianceTexas and is being used as a proving ground to deploy Phantom-powered yard trucks for distanced driver training and testing remote operations. Phantom’s low latency streaming platform allows ITSC to onboard and train new drivers. Through the distanced driver training program, expert trainers can see and hear everything inside and outside the truck. The two-way dialogue feature gives in-cab trainees the experience of sitting next to their trainer, even if they are thousands of miles apart. Remote operations use the same streaming platform enabling workers in an ITSC office to operate the same truck remotely.
“ITSC embodies the type of trailblazing company Hillwood has always envisioned leveraging the MIZ,” said Russell Laughlin, executive vice president of Hillwood, developer of AllianceTexas. “ITSC’s operations at AllianceTexas clearly illustrate how the MIZ platform can accelerate the commercialization of next generation supply chain and logistics technologies, while also improving intermodal efficiency, resiliency and safety. Their implementation of remote equipment technologies, in partnership with Phantom, is a giant leap forward for the industry.”
In less than three years since launching, the AllianceTexas MIZ has quickly become one of the premier global destinations for pioneers advancing next generation supply chain technologies, including Wing, Bell, TuSimple, Gatik, and many more. Hillwood has partnered with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) to work with these industry leaders to scale and commercialize their technologies within the MIZ’s unique ecosystem.
About ITS ConGlobal
ITS ConGlobal (“ITSC”) is North America’s leading operator of intermodal, finished vehicle, and depot service terminals. With operations in over 120 locations across the US, Mexico, and Costa Rica and more than 50 years of industrial experience, ITSC serves as the industry’s go-to experts in terminal operations. ITSC’s service and product offerings anchor on complementing specialized industrial equipment operations with advanced, technology-enabled systems and processes. For more information about ITSC, please visit itsconglobal.com or connect with us on LinkedIn.
About the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone
The AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) is a unique landscape built on collaboration and opportunity. That combination works to connect people, places and ideas that push innovation in surface and air mobility forward. By leveraging its one-of-a-kind infrastructure, the MIZ offers mobility visionaries full access to an unparalleled ecosystem, resources and partnerships essential to comprehensively test, scale, and commercialize the latest technologies. AllianceTexas itself is an unparalleled 27,000-acre regional success story and has transformed the North Texas economy by connecting it to global industry. Hillwood’s AllianceTexas development is anchored by the world’s first dedicated industrial airport, Fort Worth Alliance Airport, and hosts one of the nation’s premier intermodal hubs. AllianceTexas is also home to more than 533 companies which have built more than 53 million square feet and created over 63,000 jobs. For more information, please visit alliancetexasmiz.com and alliancetexas.com.
Perot Jain-backed Booster was founded in 2014 out of Fort Worth’s AllianceTexas, before moving its HQ to San Mateo, California. Booster has raised over $108M in funding, and now operates in California, Texas, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C. By partnering with REG, it aims to help fleets switch to renewables, cutting carbon emissions in the fight against climate change.
Cities and companies across the U.S. own fleets of cars and trucks that spew carbon into the atmosphere daily—accounting for over 27% of total transportation sector emissions. Curbing all that carbon isn’t as easy as flicking a switch to EVs. These fleets will be running on diesel and other fuels for many years—if not decades—to come.
That’s why switching from regular fuels to renewables is seen as increasingly vital in the fight against climate change—and why two companies have teamed up to help make it happen.
Booster Fuels—a mobile fuel delivery service founded in 2014 out of Fort Worth’s AllianceTexas—is partnering with Iowa-based Renewable Energy Group (REG) to provide mobile delivery of renewable diesel, biodiesel, and blended fuels to fleets.
Renewable fuels can significantly reduce emissions. But since most gas stations in the U.S. don’t carry these products, Booster was founded partly as a way to bring renewables directly to fleet vehicles with its mini-tankers, on demand.
Now based in San Mateo, California, Booster began providing its new service with REG in California in August, with the potential to grow it nationally.
“This new service will let companies seamlessly transition their fleets to much lower-emission fuels without incurring additional expenses, said Frank Mycroft, co-founder & CEO of Booster Fuels, in a statement.
“Our partnership with REG will provide fleet operators with a first-of-its-kind ‘easy button’ to solve their sustainability, energy reliability, and fuel cost needs,” he added.
Booster’s Dallas co-founder: ‘Good news for every market’
Tyler Raugh, co-founder and president of Booster, helms the company’s hub in Dallas and lauded the new collaboration.
“Booster’s partnership with REG is good news for every market, including Dallas,” Raugh told Dallas Innovates. “We’re solving a business problem by providing easier access through mobile delivery of quality renewable fuels, which are largely unavailable in gas stations. This collaboration creates commercial solutions for fleets that want to operate more sustainably without increasing their costs.”
Partnership meets a longtime Booster goal
“When we started Booster, we envisioned an energy agnostic network that would solve the supply and demand dilemma associated with bringing new sustainable fuels to market,” Raugh wrote on LinkedIn. “This new service enables fleets to decarbonize TODAY, without building new infrastructure, changing a fleet’s vehicles or making a capital expenditure.”
“If you’re looking to make a difference and decarbonize the last mile, we’re hiring,” Raugh added.
Dallas City Council approved ‘mobile fueling on demand’ in 2020
Last year, Dallas Innovates wrote about Booster’s founding and a move by the Dallas City Council to allow “mobile fueling on demand” within the city.
To date, Booster has raised $108 million in funding from Dallas-based Perot Jain and other firms including Invus Opportunities, Conversion Capital, Enterprise Holdings Ventures, Madrona Venture Group, Maveron, Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures, and Vulcan Capital.
REG becomes an investor in Booster
As part of the partnership, REG will be an exclusive supplier of bio-based diesel to Booster, and has become an investor in the company. For its part, Booster will be an exclusive mobile fueler to REG and will partner with REG to explore expansion opportunities together nationwide.
The collaboration will initially focus on servicing fleet customers in California’s San Francisco Bay Area and Orange County, with additional markets to follow.
Leveraging Booster’s last-mile tech platform and proprietary mini-tankers
The Booster/REG collaboration makes low-carbon fuels more accessible to clients, the companies say, noting that REG’s bio-based diesel is “easy to adopt” and immediately begins reducing fossil carbon emissions.
Under the new partnership, REG UltraClean Blend and other renewable and biodiesel fuels will be delivered to customers via Booster’s proprietary mini-tanker trucks, last-mile tech platform, and certified drivers.
Booster’s data intelligence platform will give fleet managers key insights into their daily operations, including emissions savings, the company says.
‘The energy transition is happening’
Bob Kenyon, SVP of sales and marketing at REG, says the collaboration “is a perfect match for us, bringing together two innovative, sustainable solutions and building on our downstream strategy to reach customers and provide a first-class experience.”
“The energy transition is happening,” he added, “and this is the right place and right time for consumers to rethink adoption of biofuels. Our investment in Booster solidifies our commitment to enabling consumers with the ability to access clean fuel choices.”
Analysts back up Kenyon’s viewpoint.
According to S&P Global Platts Analytics, US biodiesel production is forecast to reach 4.081 billion gallons annually by 2025, a stunning rise of 760% from 2020 levels.
Asim Anand, senior editor of S&P Global, notes that according to average analysts’ estimates, U.S. biodiesel production in 2021 is forecast at 750 million gallons, up 36% year on year. For 2022, the output is projected around 2 billion gallons, almost four times the levels seen in 2020. “With each passing year, the rate of biodiesel production is slated to rise significantly,” Anand says.
How the service helps the environment
On average, Booster’s fuel delivery service reduces the need for 2.2 vehicle miles traveled, the company says. With the addition of REG’s Ultra Clean blend, the two companies say they can reduce particulate matter by more than 40%, carbon monoxide by more than 25%, total hydrocarbons by more than 20%, and NOx by 10%.
Any vehicle that uses conventional diesel can use renewable diesel without updates or modifications. According to a USDA report, biodiesel and renewable diesel offer a proven approach for “decarbonizing the medium- and heavy-duty truck and freight transportation sectors.”
Wing, the drone delivery unit of Google parent company Alphabet, aims to set up shop in the suburbs of Dallas-Ft. Worth, the company said Wednesday, in what would be the first residential drone delivery service in a major metropolitan area in the United States.
KEY FACTS
Wing said it plans to begin test flights in the Dallas-Ft. Worth bedroom communities of Frisco and Little Elm, and hopes to win the necessary approvals at the local, state and federal levels to launch commercial service in those cities in the coming months.
Wing aims to launch local service in partnership with Walgreens from a store that a spokesperson said would be able to fulfill orders for a limited range of merchandise from customers in an area containing upward of 50,000 people in Frisco and Little Elm.
The drones will be dispatched from a small shipping container configured as a drone base in the Walgreens’ parking lot, and will make deliveries of cargo up to 3 pounds in weight to customers in its service area — primarily those with single-family homes that have yards — who have a suitable spot to which a package can be lowered from the drone by a tether.
Wing says to make a delivery, customers must have a private area at least the size of a picnic blanket that is free of obstacles like bushes or trees.
Wing is also partnering with the property developer Hillwood to establish a drone delivery hub in its mixed residential and commercial community Frisco Station.
Wing said it’s hoping to receive permission to operate drone flights beyond the pilot’s line of sight.
Wing has been trialling its drone delivery service since 2019 in the town of Christiansburg, Va., where demand increased during the early days of the pandemic, as well as in locations in Helsinki and two Australian cities.
KEY BACKGROUND
Wing has been conducting test flights of the drones in the Dallas Fort-Worth area since June at Hillwood’s AllianceTexas Flight Test Center, where Hillwood, which is controlled by H. Ross Perot Jr., has also conducted package delivery tests with Bell using a larger unmanned aircraft. Wing started testing its drone delivery service in Christiansburg under a federal initiative called the UAS Integration Pilot Program, making it the first residential drone delivery service in the U.S. Under that pilot program, which came about after the Federal Aviation Administration granted Wing certification as an air carrier, the drones have flown at a cruising altitude of 150 feet and a speed of 65 mph over the city, eventually descending to an altitude of about 23 feet in order to drop its cargo at a home.
Hillwood announced today that Wing, one of the first providers of drone delivery services in the United States, will operate a drone delivery facility at Frisco Station as part of a first-of-its-kind commercial service for a major U.S. metro.
In preparation for the launch at Frisco Station, Wing has been conducting test flights since June at Hillwood’s AllianceTexas Flight Test Center, an uncrewed aerial system (UAS) testing facility in Fort Worth. The Flight Test Center is one component of the larger AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ), a first-of-its-kind “do tank,” leading the nation in smart infrastructure deployment.
“We’re excited to partner with Wing as a key operator at the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone and Frisco Station as they unveil the first commercial drone delivery facility in North Texas,” said Mike Berry, president of Hillwood. “Hillwood has a long-standing history of successful public-private partnerships and deep-rooted experience in innovation, and today, those connections push forward the future of how goods and people move.”
The MIZ offers mobility visionaries in surface and air technologies full access to an unparalleled testing ecosystem, resources and partnerships essential to comprehensively scale and commercialize their technologies. Specifically, the Flight Test Center allows public and private stakeholders to accelerate the development and commercialization of urban air mobility (UAM) and UAS technologies and solutions while informing the future regulatory framework in suburban and urban settings. Wing is one of several entities currently operating at the MIZ and the Flight Test Center.
Wing’s drone delivery facility at Frisco Station will initially be dedicated to exploring new UAS use cases, community demonstrations, school field trip educational opportunities and public tours, with a small number of flights beginning the week of October 25. Outside of Frisco Station, Wing has also partnered with Walgreens to launch a first-of-its-kind store-to-door commercial drone delivery service for customers in Frisco and Little Elm.
“Hillwood’s AllianceTexas Flight Test Center provided a unique opportunity for us to conduct research and development efforts this summer, and now Frisco Station is an excellent spot for one of the first drone delivery facilities in a major U.S. metro,” said Jonathan Bass, head of marketing and communications for Wing. “We look forward to launching the commercial service here in the coming months, and to the continued partnership with Hillwood and Frisco Station.”
Further demonstrating the diverse range of global corporates housed at AllianceTexas, technology pioneers including Bell, TuSimple, Gatik, ITS ConGlobal, Phantom Auto, Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), and many more, have already established a presence at the MIZ.
About the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone
The AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) is a unique landscape built on collaboration and opportunity. That combination works to connect people, places and ideas that push innovation in surface and air mobility forward. By leveraging its one-of-a-kind infrastructure, the MIZ offers mobility visionaries full access to an unparalleled ecosystem, resources and partnerships essential to comprehensively test, scale, and commercialize the latest technologies. AllianceTexas itself is an unparalleled 27,000-acre regional success story and has transformed the North Texas economy by connecting it to global industry. Hillwood’s AllianceTexas development is anchored by the world’s first dedicated industrial airport, Fort Worth Alliance Airport, and hosts one of the nation’s premier intermodal hubs. AllianceTexas is also home to more than 533 companies which have built more than 53 million square feet and created over 63,000 jobs. For more information, please visit alliancetexasmiz.com/ and alliancetexas.com.
About Wing
Wing has built a lightweight aircraft and navigation system that can deliver small packages directly to homes in minutes, in addition to an Uncrewed Traffic Management (UTM) system that helps drones navigate the skies safely. Created in 2012, Wing has completed more than 100,000 real commercial drone deliveries across three continents. We believe drone delivery will improve the way our cities operate by reducing road congestion and creating new economic opportunities for local businesses. For more information visit wing.com.
Gatik’s partnership with Ryder will enable its growing customer base to benefit the scale and expertise Ryder offers…Gatik recently joined the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) in Texas. That program leverages a purpose-built industrial development in North Texas as a hub of supply chain innovation.
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Autonomous vehicle technology developer Gatik has reached a strategic lease and vehicle maintenance agreement with Ryder System and possibly a logistics operations management deal down the road.
Ryder (NYSE: R), which offers dedicated transportation solutions as well as vehicle lease and maintenance services, will lease a fleet of medium-duty, multi-temperature box trucks to Gatik for use in Gatik’s expanding autonomous fleet. Gatik will outfit the vehicles with its self-driving technology that backbones its autonomous delivery as a service (ADaaS) model. In addition, Ryder will maintain the vehicles, including calibration of its autonomous vehicle sensors and necessary pre-trip and post-trip inspections.
“The combination of maintaining direct relationships with customers while being asset light has never been achieved in the autonomous trucking industry before,” said Gautam Narang, CEO and co-founder of Gatik. “This partnership enables us to benefit from Ryder’s world-class expertise in commercial vehicle servicing and maintenance and leverage Ryder’s national infrastructure to expand our fleet to multiple markets quickly. Ryder has consistently demonstrated commitment to innovation and serving their customers’ needs – core principles that resonated deeply with us.”
The two companies will explore additional opportunities, including the possibility of Ryder managing the logistics operations of Gatik’s autonomous fleet so Gatik can focus on development of the ADaas platform.
In August, Gatik announced the closing of an $85 million Series B round of funding. One of the investors in that round was Ryder Ventures, Ryder’s venture capital fund.
“One of our focus areas, not only for RyderVentures but for Ryder as a company, is on autonomous trucking technology. It’s on track to solve a host of industry pain points. Think about ever-escalating consumer demands combined with capacity constraints, driver shortages, and regulatory and safety pressures,” said Karen Jones, chief marketing officer and head of new product development for Ryder. “Gatik’s commitment to safety, focus on efficiency and affordability, and unique approach to structured autonomy make it a leader in autonomous middle-mile delivery — and a great partner for Ryder.”
The oversubscribed funding round was led by new investor Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT) with participation from existing investors Innovation Endeavours, Wittington Ventures, FM Capital, Dynamo Ventures, Trucks VC and Intact Ventures. Goodyear Ventures, Goodyear’s (NASDAQ: GT) venture capital fund, participated in the new funding round as well. Gatik will utilize tires equipped with Goodyear’s tire intelligence technology powered by Goodyear SightLine. SightLine collects data on tires and communicates tire health back to users.
Gatik’s partnership with Ryder will enable its growing customer base to benefit the scale and expertise Ryder offers. The initial focus of the agreement will be in the Dallas-Fort Worth area before expanding across the U.S. and Canada.
Gatik recently joined the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) in Texas. That program leverages a purpose-built industrial development in North Texas as a hub of supply chain innovation. The development plays host to a number of companies, including autonomous vehicle developer TuSimple, drone companies and railroads. All the companies participating in the program are involved in moving live freight.
Gatik has been running pilot programs with Walmart (NYSE: WMT) in Arkansas and New Orleans and with Loblaw Cos. (TSX: L) in Ontario, Canada. In Arkansas, Gatik’s autonomous vehicles move items along a 2-mile route from a Walmart dark store (a store that stocks items for fulfillment but isn’t open to the public) to a Walmart neighborhood market in Bentonville.
Gatik is also working with Isuzu North America to install its driving technology in the manufacturer’s Class 5 N-Series low-cab-forward truck models.
Ryder is also providing maintenance for autonomous vehicle providers Waymo Via and TuSimple, that later of which is benefiting from Ryder’s 500 maintenance facilities to help TuSimple expand its autonomous freight network nationwide.
Backed by investors including Alaska Air Group, ARK Invest Founder and CEO Cathie Wood, and Toyota subsidiary Woven Capital, UP.Partners focuses on enabling cleaner, faster, safer and lower cost transportation for people and goods
UP.Partners today announced the final close of its inaugural $230M early stage venture capital fund dedicated to supporting companies that are transforming the moving world.
The movement of people and goods is the underlying fabric of society. Transportation and logistics represent 10% of global GDP, which is approximately $10T annually. With transportation responsible for 29% of global CO2 emissions, emerging technologies are creating opportunities for fundamental reinvention of mobility solutions that are cleaner, faster, safer and lower cost. Examples include package delivery drones, electric vertical aircraft for urban air mobility, software for precise positioning, hydrogen powered airliners, sustainable aviation fuel, ultra low cost LIDAR sensors, micro-mobility scooters and e-bikes, advanced manufacturing techniques, electricity grid enhancement for recharging, and more.
Building a Virtuous Ecosystem Focused on Mobility’s Future
UP.Partners has assembled a world class consortium of leaders in aerospace, automotive, maritime, hardware, software, telecom, finance and media to harness the movement of electrons, atoms and capital to help humanity go UP. Investors include Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK); ARK Invest Founder and CEO Cathie Wood, Woven Capital, the investment arm of the Woven Planet Group, a Toyota Motor Corporation subsidiary; privately-held industrial company Standard Industries; global real estate developer Hillwood, a Perot Company; leading ship management company OSM Maritime, and more.
“Our investment in UP.Partners demonstrates Alaska Air Group’s continued commitment to supporting a cleaner and more accessible world of transport,” says Alaska Air Group CEO Ben Minicuccui. “The UP.Partners team, portfolio and ecosystem of corporate partners and investors is truly world class, and we are proud to partner with UP.Partners on this journey of supporting early stage technology companies that are transforming the moving world.”
“Transforming mobility through technology is central to the mission of Woven Planet, and UP.Partners’ investment strategy is in complete lockstep,” said Betty Bryant, Principal, Woven Capital. “Woven Capital is excited to team up with UP.Partners as they encourage entrepreneurs who are focused on wide-ranging solutions that allow people, goods and information to move more seamlessly, cost-effectively, and sustainably than ever before, benefiting humanity and the health of the planet for all.”
The Davos of Mobility
A critical element of the UP.Partners strategy is the annual UP.Summit which brings together entrepreneurs, executives, and investors with the common goal of improving mobility. The UP.Summit is hosted in alternating years in Bentonville, Arkansas and Dallas, Texas, co-hosted by Steuart and Tom Walton, and Ross Perot Jr, respectively.
From the time of its inception in 2017, the UP.Summit has grown into the most important annual gathering for mobility’s boldest innovators, investors and corporations.
The impact of the UP.Summit has been significant, resulting in direct investments exceeding $450M into companies that have participated to date. Chairman of the Perot Group, Ross Perot Jr. said, “UP.Partners has created the Davos of mobility with the UP.Summit, bringing the best ideas and minds together to help humanity go UP. We are proud to partner in moving this revolution in transportation forward.”
UP.Partners has already made 10 investments in companies including leading flight autonomy company Skydio, manufacturing quality assurance leader UnitX, and electric vertical aircraft developer Beta Technologies to name a few. Kyle Clark, CEO of Beta Technologies, which recently closed a $400M investment round led by Amazon Climate Pledge Fund and Fidelity said, “UP.Partners uniquely understands the potential and scale of new air mobility and brings visionaries together to realize that potential unmatched by other venture investors – the industry is fortunate to have this team leading the way.”
Managing Partners Putting Booster Rockets on a Mission to Help More Founders Go UP
UP.Partners was co-founded by serial aviation and technology entrepreneurs Ben Marcus and Cyrus Sigari. Marcus and Sigari co-founded jetAVIVA in 2006, which today is the leading seller of business aircraft worldwide, and AirMap in 2014, which is the leading digital, automated air traffic management platform for drones and flying cars.
Joining Marcus and Sigari as co-managing partner and chairman of the firm is four time Forbes Midas List investor, Adam Grosser. Prior to joining UP.Partners, Grosser has enjoyed a diverse career as an engineer, successful founder, and long-time investor. Most recently, he led Silver Lake Kraftwerk, the Impact Strategy of Silver Lake Partners for a decade. He has invested in numerous top performing climate-focused companies including Tesla, Solar City, EnerNoc, Control4 and Silver Spring Networks.
Ally Warson, formerly of ACME Capital, also joins the UP team as Principal. UP.Partners’ Venture Partner ecosystem includes the co-creator of Google Earth Brian McClendon, former CEO of Activision Eric Hirshberg, co-founder & CEO of startup air carrier Aero Uma Subramanian, and more.
Economic development is not just about headline-grabbing deals. It’s also about growing a well-trained workforce.
That is where Tarrant County College’s Corporate Solutions and Economic Development office comes in. The new department is located at TCC Northwest Campus in north Fort Worth and wants to provide established companies with tailor-made training for their employees.
“We go out and we engage with CEOs and executives of businesses in the region to really ask one question, and that’s, ‘What are your workforce needs and what can we do to assist you?” said Shannon Bryant, TCC executive vice president of corporate solutions and economic development.
The corporate solutions center is a sprawling 35,000-square-foot facility on the third floor of TCC Northwest Campus. The location is key, Bryant said. The center sits on the runway at Alliance Airport, and is surrounded by a variety of companies, including Hillwood.
The Corporate Solutions and Economic Development office has an entirely new team and is just starting to get to work, Bryant said. Companies have started to use the center to hold meetings and luncheons.
Behind the scenes, staffers have been working with companies to set up specialized training.
For example, Bryant, who has been in her job for two years, pointed to one company that needed a customized titanium welding training program. TCC set up the program and started training workers at the Learning Opportunities Center. Another company had TCC create a customized mentorship program for a new vice president.
“Supporting existing companies is always going to be a priority of the community because we want our companies here to be successful — we want them to grow here and be happy here,” Chris Strayer, the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce’s executive vice president of economic development, said.
Kellie Brunn, the co-owner of two Fort Worth-based companies, recently had her team go through a series of leadership training. TCC worked with her to find the right lessons she wanted to teach.
“We’re a small business, so our resources are limited with time and money to afford time off for our whole team,” she said. “It had to be something that was worthwhile and meaningful.”
The training went off without a hitch, and Brunn is exploring more classes for her team.
“They delivered exactly what they promised to deliver,” Brunn said.
Bryant serves as TCC’s economic development liaison and meets with Hillwood when it is looking at bringing companies to Alliance. She also worked closely with the local chambers of commerce.
When she meets with companies, Bryant’s focus is on workforce development.
“I’ve worked with site selectors for a very long time, and you can go to any city and get tax abatements and get dollars for training,” said Bryant, who previously led a workforce development program for Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio. “This work on the customization side really makes all of the difference because it’s really meeting the employer where they are vs. just building some kind of standardized program that goes across all industries.”
The specialized training TCC can create for companies is one way to differentiate Fort Worth from other communities, Strayer said. Fort Worth has to stay out in front of trends — such as building electric cars — and be prepared for them, he added.
“As industry is changing and training is changing and skill sets are changing, we know that we are set up for that, and that we are not going to have to build these things into the future when the need is already there,” he said. “We want to be set up before it gets here.”
In the two years since Gatik AI came out of stealth, the autonomous vehicle startup has launched pilots with Walmart and Canadian retail giant Loblaw in its bid to prove that self-driving technology combined with box trucks is the secret economic sauce for hauling goods short distances.
Now, the company is expanding into Texas — its fourth market — with a fresh bundle of capital. Gatik said Tuesday it has raised $85 million in a Series B round led by new investor Koch Disruptive Technologies, the venture arm of Koch Industries. Existing investors Innovation Endeavours, Wittington Ventures, FM Capital, Dynamo Ventures, Trucks VC, AngelPad, Intact Ventures and others also participated. Gatik has raised $114.5 million to date.
“We are very much in expansion mode, in growth mode, and felt that Koch Industries would add the most value,” Gatik CEO and co-founder Gautam Narang said in a recent interview, adding that he views the company as a strategic investor.
Gatik has been shuttling goods as part of pilot programs for Walmart in Arkansas and Louisiana, and in Ontario, Canada for Loblaw Companies Limited. Gatik also struck a manufacturing partnership with Isuzu in 2020 with an aim to mass produce medium-duty autonomous trucks by early 2023.
Unlike other autonomous delivery companies, Gatik isn’t targeting consumers. Instead, the startup is using its autonomous trucks to shuttle groceries and other goods from large distribution centers to retail locations. For instance, Gatik uses about five box trucks to carry goods for Loblaw. On one route in Arkansas, Gatik has removed the human safety driver, which means some of the autonomous box trucks used to carry goods are now “driverless.” The goal is to remove safety operators from all of its box trucks.
Gatik said it has opened an autonomous trucking facility in the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone, a 26,000-acre industrial, mixed-use and residential planned development in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that has become a hub of transportation and logistics. The company is already carrying freight for several customers, which it declined to name. Narang did say that the trucks deployed in Texas are based on the Isuzu platforms.
The company plans to have a presence in multiple cities within Texas, Narang said.
Its move to Texas follows other autonomous vehicle technology companies, such as Aurora, Kodiak Robotics, TuSimple and Waymo, that have set up shop in the state. The decision to expand into Texas was driven by its status as an international shipping hub, the regulatory environment that supports autonomous vehicle testing and deployment on public roads and favorable weather. Narang added that the abundance and variety of potential customers will also allow it to have a multitenant operation. This means it can use the same truck throughout the day for multiple customers.
The new funding will be used to add more vehicles to its fleet of Class 3-6 multitemperature autonomous box trucks and hire more employees, particularly in Texas. Today, Gatik’s roughly 70 employees are spread between its headquarters in Palo Alto, engineering center in Toronto and operations in Arkansas and Louisiana.
Narang said they plan to double the number of employees to around 150 people in the next six to nine months.