GenLogs Raises $3.5 Million in Seed Round

Ryan Joyce

Arlington, Va.-based GenLogs, which uses artificial intelligence to improve highway freight logistics, has raised $3.5 million in a seed round, according to a listing on Crunchbase.

Co-founded by former State Department officials Ryan Joyce and Blake Balch, and machine learning expert Joe Sherman, the company’s backers include Lighthouse Labs of Richmond, Va., and New York-based Steel Atlas. Last year, it received a $100,000 grant from the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation’s Commonwealth Commercialization Fund.

Artificial Freight Intelligence

“It’s been a whirlwind the last few months, but the hard work is starting to pay off,” Joyce, the company’s CEO, wrote recently on LinkedIn. “GenLogs is helping improve America’s supply chain and unlock another $7 trillion of goods to flow through the U.S. economy. We are building the future of freight intelligence.”

As Joyce pointed out, until early 2020 he “used to hang out with terrorists, but now I build impactful companies and invaluable communities.” Joyce is now an active entrepreneur and investors. He founded The Alumni Network and is an Investor in DataTribe, a specialist venture capital firm that backs cybersecurity and related startups. DataTribe’s portfolio includes Attila, Dragos, Enveil, Prevalion and Refirm Labs.

Balch is the founder of the consulting firm Agoga Systems, while Sherman is a data scientist who has previously worked at ex-Anduril Industries and Anno.ai.

Tracking 4 Million Trucks

GenLogs is building a nationwide network of road sensors and proprietary datasets that enable accurate real-time data on all trucks and trailers on highways. It has collected data on over four million trucks run by over 750,000 carriers. The company’s service helps truck operators minimize fraud and theft, which is estimated to cost the industry over $30 billion annually, besides enhancing overall logistics efficiencies.

“GenLogs’ novel solution is solving an expensive problem for the Commonwealth [of Virginia] and the nation,” said Jeanette Townsend, VIPC’s director for Private Sector Grants. “After talking with the team and their customers, it’s evident GenLogs is building a solution to a pressing problem.”

Joyce, whose stints at the State Department included one as head of a Russia policy group, is today a serial entrepreneur. Besides GenLogs and The Alumni Network, he is the founder of Triple Impact, a startup aimed at enabling better cause-marketing. He co-founded GenLogs after witnessing a supply-chain crisis triggered by Covid-19.

Joyce says the bottlenecks made him realize that trucks, unlike airplanes and ships, don’t have real-time location data and other indicators. “So, we set out to collect real-time data on truck traffic in the U.S. to drive efficiency and optimization of the supply chain and reduce the growing fraud and theft issues plaguing the transportation industry,” he said.