Startup profile: GenLogs
- Founded by: Ryan Joyce, Joe Sherman and Blake Balch
- Year founded: 2023
- Headquarters: Arlington, VA
- Sector: Transportation, logistics
- Funding and valuation: $6 million seed, $14.6 Series A, $60 million Series B; valuation undisclosed
- Key ecosystem partners: Arlington Economic Development
An Arlington freight logistics startup closed a $60 million Series B in 13 days and plans to double its staff this year.
GenLogs, founded in 2023, maintains a network of cameras across the country that track and analyze truck activity. The captured data, analyzed with AI, is used to identify lost cargo, match companies and shippers to transport goods and assist law enforcement in investigating crimes like trafficking and transporting narcotics.
“We’ve demonstrated that we have a product that customers love,” cofounder and CEO Ryan Joyce told Technical.ly about the raise, “and the traction is quick.”
GenLogs is now serving about 100 different insurance firms, freight brokers and government agencies.
This investment brings GenLogs’ total funding to about $81 million. Joyce credits the speedy close of its latest round — Series B fundraising often takes about four months — to the company’s recent customer growth.
GenLogs is now serving about 100 different insurance firms, freight brokers and government agencies, he said, and recently inked a $1 million deal with what Joyce would refer to only as a “prominent” shipping company.
Across the US, video surveillance has increased and become more sophisticated in recent years, including via security cameras operated by governments and those installed in homes and businesses. Law enforcement’s access to this kind of footage has received pushback from civil rights groups.
GenLogs’ algorithms delete vehicles captured other than trucks, Joyce previously told Technical.ly, and people’s faces are blurred for privacy.
Taking advice from due diligence
Battery Ventures, a firm with 450 portfolio companies across tech industries (including transportation customer service company Shippeo and autonomous trucks startup Kodiak), led the Series B.
The money will go toward mass hiring, Joyce said. The startup hired its 80th person this week and plans to reach a headcount of about 150 by the end of 2026.
One of the main tasks for expanded teams in product management, engineering and data science will be adding new features on the GenLogs platform specific to different industries, Joyce said. Right now, law enforcement and insurance company clients both use the same platform, for example.
New capabilities for specific clients are expected to come online starting in March. Geofencing, a digital boundary around a specific area for tracking, is being built in for law enforcement agencies that want to isolate the data to certain states or counties, per Joyce. That feature isn’t necessarily needed for global insurance companies that are tracking cargo across the country.
The startup is also expanding its geographic reach and will start offering monitoring in Mexico this March, he said.
During the due diligence process, wherein potential investors often quiz customers on the value the startup is providing, that request came up often.
“That is really helpful for us to know what customers really think about us,” he said. “They’re saying it to a third party. Most importantly, it helps us understand where our blind spots are, areas for improvement.”
From 100 passes to 400 prospects
While raising a seed round in 2024, Joyce met with 100 investors before garnering any interest, he said. GenLogs reported a $6 million seed round four months after opening the round. The process was much quicker for the Series A a year ago, he said. It took a month to get term sheets signed.
About 400 investors have reached out since that previous raise, Joyce said, allowing for him and leadership to be highly selective. California firms Institutional Venture Partners, SF’s Cathay Innovation and 9Yards came on as new investors. Several existing investors also participated.
Specific venture firms were identified to join, made up of prospective investors who preemptively started due diligence over the year before GenLogs opened the Series B.
“It really made it clear that these investors … had already arrived at a high conviction of what GenLogs was doing,” Joyce said. “We knew that they would be able to move quick and give us favorable terms, and that is exactly what ended up happening.”
