Telstra’s old fund Titanium Ventures puts $30.4m into a US logistics start-up

Joseph Lam

7:56PMJuly 16, 2024

The Australian Business Network

Titanium Ventures has made its first investment on the back of rebranding from Telstra Ventures, throwing $US20.5m ($30.4m) behind a US start-up that has created a ChatGPT-like interface for logistics companies.

The venture firm, which is largely focused on the US, was the lead investor in Alvys’ $US20.5m series A raise. The round also received participation from new investor Picus Capital and existing investors RTP and Bonfire.

The investment comes as Telstra is looking to offload potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in investments from the venture capital fund it started more than a decade ago as it cuts thousands of staff in a bid to save about $400m in costs.

Telstra founded Telstra Ventures 13 years ago. However, the fund became independent six years ago and rebranded late last month.

The fund has about $1.35bn under management, with 99 portfolio companies. It has returned about $1bn to investors to date.

Titanium Ventures general partner Saad Siddiqui, who is based in the US, said the fund had high hopes for Alvys.

Titanium Ventures general partner Saad Siddiqui.

Mr Siddiqui said the start-up was seeking to become the logistics platform of choice for smaller freight companies, offering a cost-effective solution.

While many software products to manage logistics already existed in the US market, most were built for companies with hundreds of trucks, Mr Siddiqui said.

“In the US, there’s about 700,000 businesses, of which about 400,000 are sub-10 trucks. For those carriers, the existing solutions in the market are way too expensive,” he said.

“What we’re trying to do is lower the bars to digitise the software stack for these customers.”

Alvys’ platform can analyse freight trips and provide its customers with more cost-effective routes. It also has a ChatGPT-like interface powered by AI that customers can use to get information in real time as well as get route suggestions.

The start-up’s founder and chief executive, Nick Darman, said the new funding would help the company grow through hiring and building its technology.

“With this investment, we’re poised to accelerate our growth, enhance our platform and bring on board the brightest minds ready to transform how the industry operates,” Mr Darman said.