Today, DB Schenker launched Schenker Ventures, a new unit to drive innovation in logistics through support for and collaboration with entrepreneurs and founders. Schenker Ventures will bundle and advance DB Schenker’s existing corporate venture activities and investments. It will support founders and start-ups with capital, industry expertise and assets. In addition, Schenker Ventures will partner with venture builder MVP Factory to realize a venture studio.

“We want to build a digital and climate-friendly future,” said Jochen Thewes, CEO of DB Schenker. “Schenker Ventures will unleash innovation through creativity, determination and entrepreneurial freedom. As a strategic initiative apart from our daily business, Schenker Ventures will have its home close to DB Schenker but not in the company itself.”

“At Schenker Ventures we have one fundamental principle: Great ideas need entrepreneurial freedom,” said Patric Hoffmann, head of Schenker Ventures. “The founders need to stay in control. Therefore, our aim is to create an environment where they retain ownership and full control of their start-ups. As an experienced enterprise with an extensive network, we support them with capital, expert insights in supply chain management, logistics infrastructure and contacts to top-tier customers from around the globe.”  

The new unit will consist of two pillars. The first one structures all venture capital activities of DB Schenker and will act as a long-term investor focusing on seed to series B+ start-ups in the fields of logistics and supply chain management. Emphasis is given to the development and design of new business models which are targeted towards digital, technology-driven and sustainability-oriented concepts.

The venture studio, Schenker Venture’s second pillar, has been established together with Berlin-based MVP Factory. It aims to pioneer a new way of corporate venture building in logistics. It will offer exceptional entrepreneurs the opportunity to launch the next generation of logistics companies that will drive the ongoing and deep transformation of the industry. Each company will be based on the entrepreneurs’ own ideas or on ideas seeded from various other viable concepts Schenker Ventures and MVP Factory run together. Through the venture studio, selected founders will be provided with all resources needed to launch successful companies, including capital, mentorship and domain expertise.

About DB Schenker

DB Schenker is a logistics provider with around 74,200 employees at more than 2,100 locations in over 130 countries. The company operates land, air and ocean transportation services and offers comprehensive solutions for logistics and global supply chain management from a single source.