"The logistics industry still comes across as conservative"

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

At the latest since Sennder became a unicorn, the logistics tech industry (Logtech) has been getting a lot of attention. Now, F-LOG Ventures, a venture capitalist that focuses solely on startups in the logistics sector, launched earlier this year. Initially, the team behind it has a double-digit million amount at its disposal, with logistics group Fiege as the anchor investor. In an 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, one tends to think of heavy trucks and large containers, and less of fancy apps and fast internet.

That's not entirely wrong. The logistics industry still tends to be rather conservative, for example, when it comes to digitalization, it unfortunately still lags behind many other industries. At the same time, 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 there as a unicorn, but the topic of gorillas also shows strong growth here.

For you, the delivery service is 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 you need specialists like you?

Our unique selling point is, on the one hand, our know-how in the field of logistics, and on the other hand, the additional benefits we offer our portfolio companies through our industry network as well as the direct access to our anchor investor Fiege. Of course, broad-based VCs also appreciate this and are happy to exchange ideas with us on business models - or they approach us regarding financing consortia. Our specialisation is to recognise good business models at an early stage and to be able to support their development.

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

Logistics is primarily about B2B business models. Logtechs and also their customers are usually service providers for other companies. B2C business models are rarely found here. The type of founder in the logistics sector is sometimes also different than in e-commerce, for example, even if that might sound a bit like a cliché now. 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 initial investments. F-LOG led a round of funding at talpasolutions. What made the company interesting for you?

talpasolutions offers predictive analytics for heavy machinery as well as equipment. So far talpasolutions is mainly active in the mining sector. The next step is to move into logistics. Here we can actively support them as F-LOG. The focus of our investment decision was mainly the technology and the future application area logistics.

You have also invested in Smartlane.

Smartlane is active in the area of optimizing scheduling processes. This primarily involves planning optimal routes on short and medium-haul routes and the best loading of vehicles. The AI that Smartlane has developed for this purpose can take all possible parameters and restrictions into account at the same time 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 as a potential customer is also interesting for many start-ups from the logistics sector. Talks with Smartlane have of course already taken place in this regard. In addition to the pure money, we thus offer the start-ups additional added value.

Have you consciously opted for early financing rounds so far?

Indeed, we invest in the seed and Series A rounds. From a volume of 500,000 euros up to one million euros in a first financing round, we are there. We believe that our offering is most likely to help founders at an early stage. We know possible contacts in the industry, we can help with the search for personnel, and we can also open up the aforementioned access points to the logistics sector.

Personal details: Tanja Rosendahl is Managing Partner at F-Log Ventures and at 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 a team leader.