8VC, the San Francisco-based venture capital fund dedicated to solving real-world problems through industry transformation, last week announced Shaleen Devgun, CIO and EVP at Schneider National, has joined the firm as an advisor. 8VC plans to leverage Devgun’s expertise to provide guidance to the firm’s logistics portfolio companies, which include Platform Science, project44, FreightWaves, Joby Aviation, Boom, and LoadDocs.
Devgun leads Schneider’s strategic technology, logistics engineering, and business transformation initiatives as a member of the executive team. He joined the company in 2009, most recently serving as Vice President of Strategy, Planning and Solution Delivery.
“Shaleen has one of the most impressive track records in transportation and logistics, which is a uniquely complex space. Our portfolio companies will benefit from his deep understanding of the industry and the benefits that technology, including analytics from big data and connected IoT systems, can bring to enable efficiencies that were otherwise not possible,” said Jake Medwell, co-founder and partner at 8VC, in a statement.
FreightWaves spoke to Shaleen Devgun and Jake Medwell by phone, about the relationship between 8VC and industry partners like Schneider. “This is a process; it has been in the making for a year and a half,” said Devgun. “We’re continuing to develop the concepts that went into creating Platform Science and through that process we had the opportunity to get to know one another,” Devgun continued.
“We work closely with our advisor network, and the successful projects we work together on often lead to time-tested partnerships,” said Medwell. “Our philosophy is to partner with industry leaders who can add value for our portfolio companies in meaningful ways.”
“8VC is thinking about things that are not just a year or two years in the future, but developing things that are further out on the horizon,” said Devgun. “And 8VC’s ability to listen is kind of a unique quality in the [venture capital] industry. Bringing these two worlds together will create a huge amount of opportunity, we can drive a lot of pragmatic innovation to the industry.”
“The trucking and logistics space has an incredible opportunity to be transformed through technology and has become an attractive space for investors,” Medwell observed.
“We invest in industry transforming technologies to enable efficiencies that were otherwise not possible,” said Medwell. “These companies are going to fundamentally change the industry and the way it operates.”
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