What a difference a few days — and a viral pandemic — makes.
Earlier this week, Overhaul, with offices in Texas and Ireland, announced a $17.5 million growth investment to expand its supply chain visibility tech solution.
“Had we been, say, a couple of weeks later, it may have caused a problem,” Barry Conlon, Overhaul CEO and founder, told FreightWaves. “I’ve heard a lot of deals have stalled over the coronavirus. So the timing was really good.”
How the coronavirus pandemic will impact freight-tech venture capital funding is a subject that is just now starting to come into focus. In the meantime, from a business perspective, executives like Conlon expect the crisis to provide “a significant boost to the rationale as to why services like ours are necessary.”
Launched in 2016, Overhaul offers risk management tools that detect and automatically correct noncompliance issues as cargo makes its way through the supply chain. Its customers include pharmaceutical, high-tech and food industry Fortune 100s moving freight globally.
The startup joins dozens of other solutions that have come on the market in recent years, aiming to automate supply chain processes, then mine that data for efficiencies and cost savings.
Overhaul’s differentiators are twofold, the company asserts. A back-end “rules engine” manages compliance, said Karin Stevens, Overhaul’s chief operating officer, then “pushes out corrective action in real time.”
Elaborating on that mission, Conlon said Overhaul does more than provide visibility, but “leverages it to fix real business problems.”
A former member of the Irish Defense Forces, Irish Special Operations Unit, Army Ranger Wing, Conlon has a keen appreciation for risk management. (Conlon is also the former CEO of FreightWatch International, a global supply chain security company that was acquired by Boston-based Sensitech Inc.)
All supply chain managers are concerned about getting their products to customers on time and in the right condition, he explained.
Overhaul ensures that happens by connecting shippers, third-party logistics companies, trucks and trailers through use of ioT sensors or system integration.
The tools allow companies to demonstrate compliance, according to Conlon, and send alerts when risky situations arise. “We reduce the risk profile, and that saves everyone a bunch of money.”
With the latest investment, Overhaul plans to bolster its product offerings, grow the team in Austin (currently 45 employees) as well as in Ireland, and expand its reach into other global markets.
Equity investor Edison Partners led the round with participation from Overhaul’s existing investors, Abbey International Finance Group.The raise brings Overhaul’s total funding to $27.5 million.
Returning to the topic of the coronavirus, Conlon said, “we’re all learning the hard way that a connected world can be a negative.”
In that context, having confidence in your data source — is “game changing,” he said. “This sounds a bit morbid to say, but customers wish they had what we have — right now.”