Chicago featured as the “home to the future of logistics tech”

An October article in Forbes identified Chicago as the “Future of Logistics Tech,” naming Redwood Logistics along with several other Chicago companies, including project44 and FourKites, as leading examples of investment and innovation in the supply chain and logistics industries.

“Chicago's logistics tech sector represents a core aspect of our innovation and startup ecosystem. We're home to some of the best founders who are driving innovation and solving some of the world's most significant challenges when it comes to supply chain, logistics, and distribution," said Mark Tebbe, Chair of World Business Chicago's Innovation & Venture Council.

The article, written by Pete Wilkins, author of “Purpose First Entrepreneur,” outlines that Chicago’s Transportation, Distribution and Logistics (TD&L) industry generates $24 billion annually in output and employs more than 260,000 individuals. Chicago has over 16,000 TD&L firms located in the metro area, which is the highest in the nation.

Wilkins cites Redwood’s recent acquisition by AEA Investors as an example of the 802% increase in growth capital investment in Chicago — the highest among peer cities — between 2019 and 2021.

Wilkins also highlights Redwood as a next-generation leader in third-party logistics, evidenced by its recent designation as a modern 3PL and a digital fourth-party logistics provider (4PL) in Gartner’s “Innovation Insight: 4PL Outsourcing Models Reduce Logistics Risk and Optimize Cost,” published Sept. 12 by analysts Matthew Beckett and David Gonzalez.

“Redwood’s 21-year history started as a brokerage and there was no better place than Chicago to provide customers with reliable assets and third-party freight services,” said Mark Yeager, CEO, Redwood Logistics. “Today, Redwood has evolved to a digital logistics integrator and a single point of contact that can design and execute end-to-end supply chain innovations, only possible with the support of sophisticated FreightTech solutions.”

Redwood’s Logistics Platform as-a-service (LPaaS)™ enables companies to create a harmonized network between proven physical and digital solutions for superior optionality, control and profitability -- weaving systems and processes together with drag-and-drop functionality. This ‘open digital 4PL’ architecture leverages RedwoodConnect™, Redwood’s proprietary supply chain integration platform to deliver modern 3PL operations and singular visibility.