Ryder acquired Baton, a San Francisco-based startup known for the development of a proprietary logistics technology focused on optimizing transportation networks. The acquisition, finalized on Aug. 31, is an extension of Ryder’s collaboration with Baton, after Ryder’s corporate venture capital fund, RyderVentures, invested in the technology firm early last year.

“The acquisition of Baton is consistent with our strategic focus to continue to grow our supply chain and transportation solutions businesses, and part of that strategy is to bring new technology-driven solutions to market,” Robert Sanchez, chairman and CEO of Ryder, said. “With Baton, we gain the talent and the team of product developers and technologists behind the Baton logistics platform who will lead the innovation and development of the next generation of customer-facing technologies at Ryder.”

Baton’s cofounders, Andrew Berberick and Nate Robert, joined Ryder as co-chief product and technology officers for the company’s supply chain and dedicated transportation businesses and will remain based in Silicon Valley, CA. They bring their core development team and, with the resources of a $9.7 billion logistics company, will further develop Ryder’s portfolio of technology products.

“Baton’s technology is what initially caught our eye, but in working with Andrew and Nate over the past year and watching as they evolved their platform, I think we all realized that it was just the beginning of so much more. And by joining forces, we can tackle a host of supply chain disruptions by building out a new suite of products leveraging their existing tech platform,” Karen Jones, chief marketing officer and head of new product development for Ryder, said. “Andrew and Nate are exceptional talent, and we’re excited about the possibilities and the value we can create for Ryder customers.”

“We started this journey with Baton back in 2019 with a mission to apply cutting-edge technology to optimize transportation networks, and we’re proud of our success in that area,” Berberick said. “Now, in working for Ryder, we have the opportunity to broaden our scope and develop next-gen technologies to optimize supply chains from end-to-end.”

Before co-founding Baton, Berberick worked for Google, Accenture and Mindtribe and Robert worked for BuildZoom and Bain & Company.

“We are excited to join forces with a logistics giant like Ryder that is equally focused on the future of the industry. We believe the opportunities for collaboration and innovation across the supply chain are exponential,” Robert said.

Also joining Ryder are several members of Baton’s core leadership team, including Erik Malin as a group director of operations. He brings experience from Loadsmart, AFN and CarrierDirect. Ryan Houlihan will join Ryder as a director of engineering. He has worked for Apple, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Kinema Systems (acquired by Boston Dynamics). Jason Liu will also join Ryder as a director of engineering. He brings experience from BuildZoom and as co-founder of 56, a website design-and-build agency.