Boa Logistics and Flow Cold Storage receive majority investment from Cambridge Capital

Late last week, Culver City, Calif.-based Boa Logistics and Flow Cold Storage (Boa), high-growth, third-party logistics (3PL) services providers focused on refrigerated less-than-truckload (LTL) received a majority investment from West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Cambridge Capital, an investor in niche supply chain leaders and the applied supply chain.

Cambridge Capital said that this investment—in partnership with Boa’s management—will be instrumental in keeping Boa on its path to expand its dedicated cold-chain freight consolidation platform, as well as to capitalize and leverage its large market opportunity by building on its 50% revenue growth and 130% EBITA over the last year.

What’s more, it added that Cambridge Capital Managing Partner Ben Gordon and its Principal Matt Staley are now on Boa’s Board of Directors, while Boa’s founders Matt Mugar (Co-Founder and CEO) and Walter Lopes (Co-Founder and President) will remain active in leading Boa’s business full-time, and also retaining significant ownership of the company and also serving on its Board.

One of Boa’s key advantages cited by Cambridge Capital is its proprietary consolidation model, which is enhanced by technology, and provides small and medium-sized white-glove service, 24x7 responsiveness, operational excellence and access to a differentiated base of carriers for temperature-controlled LTL transportation needs across the United States.  

And it added that through Boa’s cold-chain expertise, its focus on the perishable food & beverage industry, and major consignees—including Costco, Trader Joe’s, Kroger and Publix— Boa’s customers can have a logistics partner that is able to scale, without sacrificing quality, responsiveness or service levels.

“Boa has specifically unmatched capabilities for freight originating from the West Coast, which is a large, fragmented, and underserved market,” said Cambridge Capital.

Boa’s Mugar said in the statement that Lopes and him have spent 10 years bootstrapping Boa to what it has become today, supported by a world-class team.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with Cambridge Capital,” he said. “We truly value the deep supply chain expertise that Cambridge Capital has, as well as their experience in working with similar entrepreneur-led companies. Our focus for Boa 2.0 is to work with Cambridge Capital to further develop our platform, enhance our offerings, expand our leadership team, and continue to service our customers at the highest level.”

Lopes added that as Boa embarks on its next phase, the company’s main objectives will be to invest heavily into technology and automation and also expand geographically, which will add significant value to both customers and consignees.

“Over the next few years, we believe Boa will become a nationwide household name when it comes to cold-chain LTL freight services,” said Lopes.

Cambridge Capital’s Gordon told LM that his firm believes Boa has an outstanding business today, with Cambridge Capital investment in Boa serving as a multiplier effect.

“We intend to give Boa the resources to expand its capabilities,” said Gordon. “Boa is seeking to grow 3x in 3 years. This means Boa should be able to boost their market coverage and density throughout the entire country. As a result, Boa plans to be able to give cold chain customers the most complete network, the deepest strength in LTL consolidation, and the broadest cold chain capabilities. In addition, with Cambridge Capital’s resources, Boa has the ability to pursue acquisitions. So, food companies should be able to gain access to an even more powerful cold chain network.”

As for the biggest competitive advantages of this funding for Boa, Gordon cited the following: capital to pursue acquisitions; resources to invest in technology, the capability to add locations and services to build out the network; and partners with experience building billion-dollar businesses.

Looking forward, Gordon said that Boa is poised to remain on its strong growth path, in various ways, including: team expansion, particularly in technology and finance; network expansion, to provide complete national capabilities; service expansion, to add to the solutions food customers can enjoy from Boa; and acquisitions where they add value to the Boa customer experience.