J.B. Hunt, UP.Labs open lab to establish logistics startups

Lowell-based carrier J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. will collaborate with venture lab UP.Labs to bring innovation to the forefront of the freight transportation industry, the companies announced Wednesday (Oct. 2).

They have created the Logistics Venture Lab, a logistics and freight-focused lab that will launch up to six startups over the next three years. The startups, the first of which are expected to begin in 2025, will help solve key transportation industry challenges.

J.B. Hunt and UP.Labs announced plans for the Logistics Venture Lab at the UP.Summit in Bentonville, an invitation-only gathering of innovators rethinking the future of transportation. Founded in 2017, the annual summit, which is also hosted in the Dallas metro, is organized by Santa Monica, Calif.-based UP.Partners, Tom and Steuart Walton and Ross Perot Jr. www.UP.partners

“From the inception of modern intermodal transit to digital freight matching platforms to emerging safety technology and beyond, J.B. Hunt has always been people-focused, technology empowered and capacity driven, and we’ve been on an innovation journey since our founding in 1961,” said Shelley Simpson, president and CEO at J.B. Hunt. “Our collaboration with UP.Labs will continue this journey as we look for new ways to disrupt, adapt and accelerate across the transportation industry.”

Founded in 2022, UP.Labs is part of UP.Partners, a multi-modal transportation innovation and investment firm that also includes mobility investment fund UP.Ventures. With its flagship launch partner Porsche, UP.Labs partners with the largest corporations in the world to identify pressing challenges and launch startups to address them. The corporate partners can acquire startups after they mature. J.B. Hunt marks UP.Labs’ fourth corporate partnership.

“I’m thrilled to be collaborating with J.B. Hunt, a leader in the transportation and logistics industry,” said John Kuolt, founder and CEO of UP.Labs. “Through the Logistics Venture Lab, we will launch startups rooted in big data, GenAI (generative artificial intelligence), and emerging technologies to solve industry problems with some of the world’s best entrepreneurs. Having successfully collaborated with Porsche AG, Alaska Airlines and an undisclosed retail corporate partner, we’re excited to bring our unique venture lab model to a new transportation sector – logistics and freight.”

According to the release, the startups launched from the lab will focus on key industry service areas such as brokerage, dedicated, intermodal and truckload. They’ll help to drive efficiency and solve common problems faced by providers in the logistics and freight transportation space.