Focus Areas

An Investment Strategy Focused on the Supply Chain Sector

At Cambridge Capital, investing in the supply chain is all we do. We partner with companies where our unique domain expertise and operating capabilities will help drive the next chapter of growth.

Investing Across All Segments of the Supply Chain

Transportation

Distribution

Logistics

Supply Chain Technology

Select Cambridge Capital Investment Themes & Insights

E-Commerce Fulfillment
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated e-commerce penetration in the US from 16% to 34% of all retail sales, resulting in 10 years’ of expected e-commerce penetration growth in just 3 months; fulfillment sector benefits
Last-Mile Delivery
Last mile delivery is a $115B industry (according to IBISWorld), and is currently the biggest cost driver in the supply chain; companies that innovate and enable more efficient last mile delivery options will succeed
Cross-Border Flow of Goods
Fulfillment and delivery of goods is usually dominated by local incumbents, but increasingly shippers/sellers want to consolidate vendor relationships and be able to monitor all of their activities, globally, from a consistent vendor
Predictive Supply Chain Decisioning
The recent advances in productizing AI and ML at scale create a new class of companies that can actually automatically cure supply chain issues, saving money, time and reputation for large global shippers
Pure-Play Software Niche Leaders
While supply chain software companies have always been attractive area to invest in, we believe that best-of-breed niche leaders, who do not try and be ubiquitous across segments/markets, are an underappreciated opportunity set that is poised to succeed and serve as missing puzzle pieces for larger, broader competitors

Man + Machine Wins
Purely tech-enabled 3PLs, or even 3PLs who are more services-based, will continue to provide value for shippers based on specialization, capabilities and density – not everything can be fully automated by (purely) technology
Supply Chain Visibility
Next level of supply chain visibility, connecting all stakeholders in a shipment onto a trusted platform that enables “higher Pixel” visibility that provides predictive analytics and machine learning, leading to enhanced supply chain resiliency and efficiency
Specialized Telematics
As video telematics and voice/data networks mature to allow for real-time edge computing, there are a universe of interesting companies that will achieve significant success (by replacing older commodity GPS tracking vendors)
“Digital” Freight Forwarders
While capital has flowed into a small number of unicorns in the sector, we believe that other tech-enabled forwarders, especially those who understand the legacy business model’s profit drivers, will be more successful
“Digital” Brokers
Similar to forwarders, we believe the best “digital” brokerage opportunities are actually to invest in brokers undergoing a digital transformation, given importance of reputation, relationships, density and market share

Investment Characteristics and Underwriting Parameters

Preferred Investment Size

$10-50 million equity investments

Use of Proceeds

Growth capital, strategic initiatives, acquisitions, and shareholder liquidity

Ownership

Willing to invest in a majority or minority capacity

Partnership Approach

We invest in partnership with management to add tangible value