Dynamo Dispatch. Weekly update from Dynamo Ventures covering the latest and greatest in supply chain, mobility, and building venture-scale businesses.

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Weekly Commentary 💭

Check out the recent Future of Supply Chain podcasts if you haven’t already! Have a great week.

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Supply Chain 📦

Wall Street Invests Billions to Scale Mom-and-Pop Sellers on Amazon. Aggregators take promising products on Amazon and attempt to transform them into global brands, claiming they have the expertise to select strong products over trendy ones. These aggregators, backed by investors, offer a viable exit strategy for merchants that can’t afford to expand, are burned out, or cannot keep up with the supply-chain headaches that have emerged due to the rise in demand brought on by the pandemic.

Gartner: Top Supply Chain Priorities are Agility and Resilience. A Gartner survey of more than 1.3K supply chain professionals found that 87% plan investments in supply chain resiliency within the next two years. This being said, 60% admit that their supply chains have not been designed for resilience but cost-efficiency. The survey found that even more supply chain professionals (89%) want to invest in agility. ICYMI, NASDAQ Tech Trends Report.

Trucking Industry Sees Rise in Contract Rates and Spot Rates. The trucking industry benefited from massive imports volumes at ocean gateways as business spending on shipping and freight was up more than 12% y/y in the last quarter. With capacity tight and pricing power in the carriers' hands, shippers are having to shell out more to get capacity for their freight. Related, Trucking Failures Surged Last Year Under Pandemic removing valuable capacity from the market.

Container Shipping is Locked in a Significant Bottleneck. After a 15% dip in Maersk’s volumes in Q2 2020, the sharp rebound toward the end of the year saw global trade return to a 5% y/y increase. These resurgent global demands are stretching capacity and driving up freight rates, and are the main factor in the container shipping bottleneck. Looking forward, Container Shipping Rates May Fall on Vaccines, Improving Logistics but Maersk sees Contract and Short-Term Rates Up Across the Board.

High Transportation Costs Hit Manufacturers of Food and Consumer Packaged Goods. Spikes in transportation costs can be dangerous for companies like food and CPG producers as they operate on relatively thin margins and pay for transportation into retailers’ facilities. Supply chain and transportation managers are scrambling to find capacity solutions and to explain higher than expected expense entries for shipping costs. In EU/UK, British Meat Processors Registering in the EU to Bypass Export Delays and higher costs.

Filling Order Books at Trucking OEMs Creating Concerns. The shortage of semiconductors has not yet impacted heavy truck builds to the extent it has automotive builds. That being said, about 217K Class 8 trucks were ordered in 2020, and forecasts call for between 250K to 280K orders this year.Also, Daimler Trucks is Making Moves in Electrifying its Semi-Truck Offerings.

Environmental Risks to the Supply Chain Could Cost up to $120B Over the Next 5 Years. Supply chain emissions on average are 11.4x greater than operational emissions. Manufacturing, food and beverage, and agriculture are the industries that could see their potential cost increases as environmental risks impact the supply chain, along with regulations and market changes. Speaking of the environment, see Tesla’s Small Battery Pack for the Semi.

Mobility 🚗

Who Will Build the Apple Car?. Apple’s secret project regarding building a self-driving EV has gained momentum in recent months. If and when Apple commits to building a car, it is likely to see multiple partners. The following companies are possible candidates: Foxconn, Magna, Hyundai or Kia, Nissan, and Stellantis. Related, VW Will Use Microsoft's Cloud to Develop AVs.

Nissan Launches EV Shuttle Experiment in Japan. As part of their attempt to become carbon neutral by 250, Nissan recently paired with three local governments and eight Japanese companies to begin field-testing new mobility services and connectivity technologies. These will showcase the future of low-carbon communities in Japan, including a shuttle that not only moves people but packages as well. Meanwhile, in the US, Ford Can’t Get Batteries for F150s due to Import Bans.

Tesla “Self-Driving” Coming as Germany Plans to Draft AV Laws. The German government announced it has cleared the way in the cabinet to draft autonomous driving laws. Federal minister Andreas Scheuer said the new laws would allow Germany to become the first country in the world to regulate Level 4 autonomous driving. Roundup: 12K+ Model X Set due to be Recalled, Tesla's $25,000 Model 2 Will Be Sold Globally, and Tax Credits Coming for Tesla EVs.

White House Hastens to Address Global Chip Shortage. The shortage of semiconductors has forced multiple US car plants to halt production. President Biden will sign an executive order demanding a comprehensive review of supply chains for critical goods in the coming weeks to address the global shortage. Related, How the Mexico/US Auto Supply Chain is Impacted.

Survey: Nearly 40% of Germans Won’t Buy EVs. Thirty-nine percent of drivers say they “will not buy an electric car under any circumstances,” according to a survey by utility association VKU. This shows that electric cars still suffer from a considerable image problem in Germany.

Uber and Lyft’s Long Wait for Demand Signals Slow Economic Rebound. Analysts do not expect ride-hail demand to rebound before the second half of 2021 when more people have been vaccinated and offices and businesses have reopened. The slow recovery also complicates Uber and Lyft’s efforts to become profitable on an adjusted basis by the end of this year. Related GM's Hourly Workers Got a Bigger Profit-Sharing Check for 2020 Despite Pandemic.

Rivian Planning to IPO This Year. The Amazon and Ford-backed EV startup is looking to go public as soon as September at a valuation of about $50B or more and is likely to be one of the biggest IPOs of the year. As one of the highest-profile potential competitors to Tesla, they have raised more than $8B from investors who expect its EV pickup and SUV to perform well in the US market.

Fundraises and M&A 💸

Twinco Capital Raises €3M Led by Mundi Ventures. Twinco Capital is a fintech company aiming to build competitive and socially responsible supply chains by engaging with large corporations to offer their suppliers access to affordable funding. The raised capital will be used to fuel the expansion of the company.

Coco Raises $5.5M Led by Pelion Ventures. Coco aims to be the cheapest, fastest delivery method for consumers. The robotic delivery fleet has been able to grow its team to more than 70 people, deploy 50 new robots, and launch in new cities within LA county with the new capital.

Kargo Raises $6M in Seed Round Led by Founders Fund. The smart loading dock startup is based in San Francisco along with its control tower, Argus. Kargo plans to use the funds to invest in operations, product development, accelerate global expansion, and add to their senior leadership positions.

SmartHop Raises $12M in Series A Led by Union Square Ventures. Miami based startup SmartHip is an AI-powered app that helps interstate truckers make their routes more efficient while removing the administrative hassle for drivers. The latest funding round will go toward product development as well as embedded financial products

Justo Raises $65M led by General Atlantic. The Mexican grocery delivery startup was founded a year and a half ago and saw COVID boost demands for online deliveries of goods. Justo plans on expanding within Mexico and growing its workforce to 10K people in the next 3-5 years.

Instabox Raises $90M in Series B. Instabox is a logistics startup that provides eComm deliveries across Sweden with a max of 6 hours between the merchant and the consumer through a smart locker network. The company intends to use the funds to further invest in technology and expand outside of Sweden.

GrubMarket Raises $90M in Series D. GrubMarket defines itself as an affordable farm-to-table food delivery service offering a variety of organic and locally-sourced food and produce. They plan on deepening its investment in people, technology, and acquisitions with the new cash.

Plus Raises $200M Led by Guotai Junan, CPE, and Wanxiang. Plus is a leading provider of self-driving truck technology. They plan to use the new funds to accelerate the global commercialization and deployment of its AV.

Thrasio Raises $750Mg Led by Oaktree and Advent. Thrasio consolidates third-party sellers on Amazon Marketplace. It will use the money to continue its rapid pace of bringing more third-party sellers into the Fulfilled by Amazon ecosystem.

SF Express Merges with Kerry Logistics. SF Express, the top integrated logistics company in China, is expanding globally to compete with FedEx, UPS, and DHL. Their investment in Kerry Logistics gives them the ability to be a one-stop-shop for logistics services, providing them access to airfreight capacity.

Company Building 🛠️

Tim Ferriss Show: Marc Randolph. Randolph is a repeat founder and most recently sold Looker to Google for $2.6B. Some great stories here especially from his time at Netflix (as co-founder and the first CEO).

How to Eat an Elephant, One Atomic Concept at a Time. An interesting piece that breaks down the atomic concepts or primitives that Canva, Figma, and Sketch utilize to compete with Adobe. More than a business breakdown, there're some great principles to apply here in industries like supply chain.

Speeding Up Marketing. “Slow marketing teams are like revving a car that’s stuck in neutral — you’ll hear plenty of noise, but you’re not going to be able to move anywhere.”

Who's Hiring? 👩‍💻

Full Stack Engineer at Vector AI in London, UK.

Deep Learning Engineer at Gatik in Toronto, ON.

Account Executive at nextmv in Philadelphia, PA (remote ok).

Check out other jobs at Dynamo portfolio companies.💥 Have you seen any interesting startups recently? Introduce us.❤️ We would love your support. Please forward to friends and share on social media.🗞️ If you were forwarded this and found it interesting, please sign up.🎙 Check out Dynamo's podcast series, The Future of Supply Chain.