On September 18, Logistics.com, Inc., a provider of transportation
procurement and management technology, announced the successful completion
of a $10 million round of additional backing from Internet Capital
Group (NASDAQ: ICGE). This follows $15 million of previously unannounced
financial support late last year. This funding reportedly provides Logistics.com
the required financing to continue its rapid growth and demonstrates Internet
Capital Group's confidence in Logistics.com. This also supplements the
$39 million already received to bring total funding to date to $64 million.
No other e-logistics company is funded at the level of Logistics.com and
no other is closing new customer deals at the volume and frequency of
Logistics.com, according to the company.
The
additional funding will support continued build-out of the business, particularly
in technology, customer-reaching initiatives and strategic acquisitions.
Logistics.com claims it is the only company nowadays offering technology
to both shippers and carriers enabling them to buy, sell, manage and optimize
transportation services.
Further,
no other e-logistics provider is reportedly closing new customer deals
at the volume and frequency of Logistics.com, indicating that the company
is likely outdistancing other players in this space. Logistics.com's client
list is comprised of 35 Fortune 500 companies, with over 120 customers
in total, including Compaq Computer Corp., Colgate-Palmolive
Co., PPG Industries, Inc., Quaker Oats Co., Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. and eight of the top 15 trucking companies in North America.
For the first half of 2001, 47% of the company's business came from new
clients; bookings in the second quarter of 2001 were up 82% from bookings
in the first quarter of 2001.
"Given
our growth from a customer, revenue, technology and funding perspective,
we feel that Logistics.com is well-positioned to continue its unmatched
scope of service to the transportation industry," said John Lanigan, CEO
of Logistics.com. "Internet Capital Group's continued confidence validates
our competitive position and success as an organization."
Rapid
Growth Continues
This funding caps a year of rapid growth, both in terms of customer base
and technology. The company attributes the growth to the fact that its
solutions represent short-to-medium term investments that carry a very
rapid return on investment (ROI), typically less than two months. As an
example, in April, Logistics.com announced that it managed over $2 billion
in transportation procurement in the preceding 12 months, saving its customers
over $100 million within that timeframe. Other recent company news includes
an announcement of a $1.24 million savings for The Limited, Inc.
The
following are the most recent high-profile contract wins:
- On October
2, Logistics.com announced The TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX),
the leading off-price retailer of apparel and home fashions worldwide,
has selected Logistics.com for strategic transportation procurement.
The Fortune 200 company will deploy Logistics.com's OptiBid Network
solution to procure truckload transportation for inbound delivery of
merchandise that it will deliver to its over 1,300 T.J. Maxx,
Marshalls, HomeGoods and A.J. Wright stores across
the United States. OptiBid Network is a planning solution for strategic
transportation procurement that provides customers with annual contracts
that satisfy the company's stringent cost, service and operational requirements.
- On September
10, Logistics.com announced PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE: PPG), an $8.6
billion Fortune 500 manufacturer of coatings, glass, fiber glass and
chemicals, has deployed Logistics.com's ASP-delivered OptiManage
transportation management and execution solution. PPG is utilizing the
entire suite of ASP-delivered OptiManage modules, which include OptiManage
Core for integrated, web-based transportation management and execution,
OptiManage Consolidator for optimizing order consolidation and
route selection, OptiManage Selector for optimizing of real-time
transport provider selection and OptiManage Capacity Finder
for rapidly securing capacity from preferred transport providers at
existing contracted rates using a private transportation exchange (PTX).
As part of the agreement, Logistics.com will manage PPG's relationship
with over 80 transport providers, most of which are already connected
to Logistics.com via the Internet or Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).
PPG is Logistics.com's ninth customer to use a solely ASP-based solution.
- On August
6, Logistics.com announced that Staples, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS),
the $11 billion retailer of office supplies, business services, furniture
and technology, deployed Logistics.com's OptiBid Network to
procure a portion of its annual truckload transportation requirements.
Through this solution, Staples might be able to cut costs and improve
efficiencies on product deliveries to Staples distribution centers and
nearly one thousand retail stores across North America. OptiBid Network
addresses many of Staples' critical business factors, including freight
variability, network flows and transport provider rates and service
levels, and assists the company in establishing an optimal strategic
transportation plan. OptiBid Network is part of Logistics.com's OptiBid
transportation procurement solution that also includes OptiBid
Lane, an online procurement solution ideal for shippers with
less complex networks or for shippers making tactical adjustments to
larger networks.
- Last
but not least, on July 30, the company announced that The Gillette
Company (NYSE: G), the world leader in male grooming products, has
engaged Logistics.com to assist in the strategic procurement of the
company's North American truckload and inter-modal transportation service
requirements. The Fortune 200 consumer goods company will also optimize
its transportation network using Logistics.com's OptiBid Network solution.
New
Architecture - LEMA
Further, in its quest to build the industry's first standards-based logistics
network, on October 1 Logistics.com introduced Logistics Event Management
Architecture (LEMA), with the goal of leading the logistics industry into
its next quantum improvement. Logistics.com developed LEMA as an open,
standards-based and user-driven architecture to empower a more seamless
flow of information among supply chain and logistics community members
as well as adjacent industry participants such as providers of information
technology and services. LEMA supposedly offers three primary benefits,
which are 1) intra- and inter-enterprise application integration, 2) free
flow of information and 3) the reduction of cycle time in processing logistics
events such as simultaneous offer and acceptance of shipment moves.
LEMA
should simplify the integration of legacy systems and protocols with Internet-enabled
systems and protocols, and should transform internally focused supply
chain events into truly collaborative events between trading partners,
such as vendors and customers. Through the adoption of LEMA, multiple
organizations can possibly process the same logistics event through independent
workflows and customize their own specific view of that event's activity.
LEMA
addresses five critical logistics industry-specific business issues that
represent the context in which logistics events execute:
- Business
Objects such as distances, locations and facilities, trucks and ocean
and air containers
- Relationship
Rules and time components that make up the process of contract management
- Business
Rules, or rules that define the business processes associated with execution
of events
- Event
Monitoring and exception management capabilities such as rejected load
scenarios
- Integration
of various business processes, which is addressed by tXML (Transportation
XML)
Logistics.com
reportedly developed tXML in conjunction with customers to enable standard
application integration among all members of a logistics chain as well
as intra-enterprise requirements between legacy and new systems. Logistics
chain members include shippers, carriers, consignees, suppliers, third-party
logistics providers (3PLs) and other vendors. The backbone of LEMA is
its message bus, which reportedly integrates with over 70 distinct external
business protocols such as EDI, HTTP, SOAP, XML/RPC and XML over the web.
This standardization could reduce the cost and risk of intra- and inter-enterprise
application integration (EAI) and should enable the free flow of information
versus custom integration.
One immediate
benefit of LEMA adoption is the possible elimination of high initial set-up
fees and on-going interface maintenance fees associated with each interface
between enterprises or applications. Logistics.com's LEMA standards are
available to its customers and any other company wishing to reap the benefits
of an open and standard business platform. The company plans to expand
its momentum to standards bodies.
The following
Logistics.com web-native transportation procurement and management applications
were developed natively to the LEMA and tXML standards:
- OptiManage
Capacity Finder - a fully automated, web-native product for rapid
capacity acquisition
- OptiManage
Core - a web-native, inter-enterprise transportation management
solutions
- OptiBid
Lane - a web-native e-procurement tool for transportation
- OptiYield
Profit Analyzer - a web-native interactive tool to improve carrier
profitability
This concludes
Part One of a two-part Event Note on Logistics.com. Part Two will discuss
the Market Impact and make User Recommendations.