NEW YORK, April 14, 2022 - Optimal Dynamics, the pioneer in artificial intelligence-driven decision-making for transportation planning, today announced that it has closed $33 million in Series B funding, less than one year after closing its Series A round.
The Westly Group led the investment, with Activate Capital, Standard Investments and existing investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, participating to complete the syndicate.
"We invest in transformative companies and technologies, and we put Optimal Dynamics in that category," said Tim Wang, Managing Partner at The Westly Group. "Daniel and the team have really just scratched the surface of how we believe Optimal Dynamics will transform the transportation and logistics industry."
Optimal Dynamics was founded to bring advanced AI to the logistics industry, helping companies automate and optimize operations. Since coming out of stealth mode in late 2020, Optimal Dynamics has quickly secured a growing roster of customers, ranging from 50-truck, middle-market for-hire carriers to the most well-regarded names in logistics. Carriers use the Optimal Dynamics platform to answer strategic, tactical and real-time questions about their businesses.
"We believe that Optimal Dynamics' platform has the potential to transform the transportation industry," said Nick Wheeler, Managing Director at Standard Investments. "We've received outstanding feedback from Hawk Logistics, Standard Industries' transportation fleet, on how the platform has supported their growth and innovated their business model. As companies continue to navigate supply chain challenges, this round will help ensure that they can do so successfully."
"Optimal Dynamics has been a game changer for our company. Their platform has opened up an array of growth opportunities that we'd never previously considered," said Volker Bargenda, President of Hawk Logistics. "Thanks to their advanced AI applications, we've been able to hone in on new markets where we've accelerated hiring and expanded our presence."
For Activate Capital, the investment in Optimal Dynamics is part of its larger thesis around logistics and supply chain transformation, according to Paul Jordan, Principal at Activate. "What attracted us to Optimal Dynamics is the deep intelligence the platform brings to transportation decision-making, given historic levels of uncertainty," explained Jordan. "We believe the use of artificial intelligence will be critical to solving the intense challenges we're all seeing across the industry today."
The company will be using the new proceeds to accelerate hiring in critical areas to 1) drive future expansion and growth and 2) better enable its teams to deploy impactful products to its customers.
"This round reflects the tremendous momentum we have experienced over the past six months in revenue and customer adoption," said Daniel Powell, co-founder and CEO. "For the first time, carriers are now able to use our advanced AI platform to solve real-world operational problems. It's been both exhilarating and humbling to be at the forefront of this industry shift."
For inquiries, contact Scott Kenerly at skenerly@optimaldynamics.com.
The Westly Group invests in smart energy, mobility, and industry 4.0 solutions and has 15 of the world's larger energy and auto companies as investors. The firm has over $500 million AUM and has had seven companies go public, including Tesla Motors and Luminar. To learn more, visit https://www.westlygroup.com.
Activate Capital is a leading growth equity partner to companies building smart, sustainable systems across the energy, transportation, and industrial technology markets. The firm aims to generate best-in-class financial returns while contributing to this vision of the future by investing in entrepreneurial management teams in high-growth companies using technology to make the world more efficient, intelligent, and sustainable. The partners have collectively invested over $1 billion across their target sectors, resulting in 30 successful exits through IPO and M&A.
Standard Investments is a fundamentally driven investment platform focused on the intersection of industry and technology. Standard Investments deploys capital flexibly and creatively across the public and private markets, spanning the life cycle of a company, and leverages its deep industrial knowledge and operational experience to create value. To learn more, visit www.standardinvestments.com.
Optimal Dynamics was founded in 2017 by Daniel Powell and his father Warren Powell to create the decision layer of logistics. The company is the byproduct of 40 years of transportation research out of Princeton University led by Warren. By leveraging its proprietary advanced artificial intelligence, CORE.ai, the Optimal Dynamics solution is able to incorporate uncertainty into truckload planning to create real-time adaptive decision-making and resilient networks.