"The logistics sector is still conservative"

In this interview, Tanja Rosendahl, Managing Partner at logtech VC F-LOG, talks about the potential of the logistics sector and explains why start-up founders tick a little differently in this area.

Ever since Sennder became a unicorn, the logistics tech sector (logtech) has been attracting a lot of attention. F-LOG Ventures, a venture capital provider that focuses exclusively on start-ups in the logistics sector, was launched at the beginning of the year. Initially, the team behind it has an amount in the double-digit millions at its disposal; the anchor investor is the logistics group Fiege. In this interview, Managing Partner Tanja Rosendahl explains what makes the sector special and which start-ups F-LOG is focusing on.

Ms. Rosendahl, with F-LOG Ventures you focus on start-ups in the logistics sector. However, people tend to think of heavy trucks and large containers, rather than fancy apps and fast internet.

That's not entirely wrong. The logistics sector is still rather conservative today and unfortunately still lags behind many other sectors when it comes to digitalization, for example. However, this also shows the enormous potential of start-ups in this sector to establish new business models and make them big. Sennder is certainly a big topic as a unicorn, but the topic of gorillas is also showing strong growth here.

Do you see the delivery service as a logistics start-up?

Absolutely. The business model is all about getting goods to the customer as quickly and efficiently as possible. This is about the last mile, which is currently a very important topic in logistics. The Gorillas example also shows very well how broad the market for logistics business models is.

Many VCs were involved in Sennder and Gorillas in particular. So why do they need specialists like you?

Our unique selling point is, on the one hand, our expertise in the logistics sector and, on the other, the additional benefits we offer our portfolio companies through our industry network as well as direct access to our anchor investor Fiege. Of course, broad-based VCs also appreciate this and are happy to discuss business models with us - or they approach us about financing consortia. We specialize in identifying good business models at an early stage and supporting their development.

What is different in the logtech sector compared to other start-up sectors?

Logistics is primarily about B2B business models. Logtechs and their customers are generally service providers for other companies. B2C business models are rather rare here. The type of founder in the logistics sector is sometimes also different to that in e-commerce, for example, even if that may sound a bit of a cliché. Most Logtech founders come from the industry and are very hands-on - and that also makes sense in order to speak the same language as the customers.

Let's talk about their first investments. F-LOG led a financing round at talpasolutions. What made the company interesting for you?

talpasolutions offers predictive analyses for heavy machinery and systems. So far, talpasolutions has mainly been active in the mining sector. The next step is to move into logistics. We can actively support them in this as F-LOG. The focus of our investment decision here was primarily the technology and the future application area of logistics.

You also invested in Smartlane.

Smartlane is active in the field of optimizing scheduling processes. This primarily involves planning optimal routes on short and medium distances and the best loading of vehicles. The AI that Smartlane has developed for this purpose can take all possible parameters and restrictions into account simultaneously during optimization. This holds huge savings potential for their customers.

Your anchor investor Fiege could certainly be interested in such an offer.

Through Fiege, for example, we can offer operational know-how or access to customers. Fiege is also an interesting potential customer for many logistics start-ups. Of course, there are already talks with Smartlane. In addition to the pure money, we offer start-ups additional added value.

Have you consciously opted for early financing rounds so far?

We do indeed invest in the seed and Series A rounds. We are involved from a volume of 500,000 euros up to one million euros in a first financing round. We believe that our offering is best suited to helping founders at an early stage. We know potential contacts in the industry, can help with the search for personnel or open up the aforementioned access to logistics.

Personal details: Tanja Rosendahl is Managing Partner at F-Log Ventures and the Next Logistics Accelerator. She has also been Head of Venture Investing at Fiege Logistik since the end of 2019. Previously, she spent eight years at NRW.Bank, where she was responsible for venture capital as team leader.