WHAT? Natura &Co announced the launch of a corporate Venture Capital Fund, dubbed Natura Ventures. The fund will jointly be managed by Brazilian cosmetics manufacturer Vox Capital and impact investment firm Vox Capital.
DETAILS A report published by Global Venturing quoting Epoca Negocios states that the fund was endowed with a capital of R$50million and has been tasked to invest in 15 start-ups focusing on the circular economy, customer service technology and beauty sectors.
WHY? According to Global Venturing, Jose Manuel Silva, Vice president of New Business for Natura &Co Latin America told Epoca Negocios, “Natura had been doing open innovation since over 20 years and we already worked in some ways with corporate venture capital, but without an official VC Instrument.
“We have spent the last nine months planning our next 15 years and we think that it is time to have our own tool, which will be used to implement our innovation strategies. It gives us more firepower.”
Ajay Vashee has been a general partner at IVP for about three and a half years. IVP, headquartered in California with a new office in London, helps breakout companies grow into enduring market leaders. With a 40-year record and 130+ IPOs, they have partnered with over 400 companies including Amplitude, Brex, Coinbase, Crowdstrike, Datadog, Discord, Klarna, Slack, Snap, and Twitter. IVP helps founders and CEOs lead rapidly growing companies with a selective, proven, pragmatic, and genuine approach.
Ajay and I recently discussed his path to IVP, his former CFO role at Dropbox, leading a team through an IPO, why he transitioned from finance to venture capital, and how building Legos with his daughters is one of his favorite pastimes.
Ajay grew up on Mercer Island, near Seattle. He attended Columbia University in New York, graduating in 2005 with a bachelor’s in economics and political science, and began his career as an analyst at Morgan Stanley. After a few years at venture fund NEA as a senior associate, Ajay realized he was being led to a different path.
“While at NEA, we were doing some category work on file sync and share, the category that Dropbox operated in,” he explains. “I fell in love with the company and ended up joining, leaving the world of venture to step into an operating role for the first time.”
Initially, Ajay joined to help build and scale the finance organization at Dropbox. This experience allowed him to recruit talent across the organization and build the team from the ground up. Ajay was responsible for building the accounting, FP&A, strategic finance, treasury, and real estate functions. He also managed mergers and acquisitions strategy and investor relations as head of corporate development. These responsibilities prepared him for the CFO role.
“All of our acquisitions as a company prepared me to step into the CFO role, which I did about a year before we filed to go public and roughly a year and a half before our IPO,” he said. Ajay was the CFO through the company’s IPO and the first 10 quarters as a public company.
The IPO and subsequent period included monumental growth for Dropbox, scaling from $45M in revenue to $2B in ARR and from 50 million to over 600 million users. Ajay learned valuable lessons about team dynamics and the importance of communication during this time.
“There was a different team for the IPO and the transition from private to public markets,” he said. “The team we had as a smaller startup was different from the team for the transition.”
Communication was crucial during the IPO. Dropbox maintained a disclosive culture, which had to be adjusted as they became a public company. The team stayed focused on long-term goals and customer base despite the cultural adjustment.
Ajay found balancing the IPO’s demands with maintaining what made Dropbox successful to be a key challenge. “The gravity of the earning cycle, especially being a CFO of a newly public company, is powerful,” he said. They managed expectations and shadow metrics, maintaining optimism and clarity in their vision and strategy.
Ajay’s working relationship with Dropbox CEO Drew Houston strengthened through the IPO process, highlighting the importance of trust and respect. “Our relationship was strengthened through the IPO process, and the positive momentum made the company even stronger,” he says.
Ajay joined IVP in 2021, returning to venture capital after working at NEA. He saw the value in helping other companies through their next stage of experience growth like Dropbox with IVP’s support. During his time at Dropbox, IVP helped the company scale significantly.
Vashee is committed to developing the next generation of financial leaders.
Michaela Joy Photography
IVP currently has about 95 portfolio companies, with the majority being private and 15 to 20 percent public investments. Ajay has helped the firm with several investments, taking board or board observer seats. He led IVPs investments in companies such as DeepL, Jasper, Pigment, and Superhuman.
Ajay sees potential in finance professionals taking risks in their career paths. “With the rise of strategic finance talent, we may see more CFOs transitioning into venture investing roles,” he states.
Managing work and personal life involves a team effort. Ajay’s wife is the chief marketing officer at Figma, and they have two daughters. Both sets of grandparents live nearby, providing crucial support.
Ajay enjoys running and staying fit, taking advantage of the Bay Area’s hilly surroundings. He also loves building Legos with his daughters and is always on the hunt for a new set.
Looking ahead, Ajay is optimistic about rising finance professionals. “I’m most excited about the next generation of analytical talent in finance,” he says. “We invite those running finance at exciting tech companies to join the IVP CFO Collective and be part of our community.”
After working for three years at the CVC Unit, Antonia Elsa Soler-Blasco will now lead the team in San Francisco, Boston, and Tel Aviv.
Liechtenstein-headquartered construction materials provider Hilti Group has promoted Antonia Elisa Soler Blasco to head of its corporate venture capital arm, Hilti Venture.
Hilti Venture was launched in 2018. It invests in developers of construction technology. The areas of focus include field digitalisation and modularisation, robotics software, contractor software, circularity, smart tools, and contractor software.
Soler Blasco, based in San Francisco joined Hilti Venture as a director in mid-2021. Johannes Paefgen, a director based in Boston, and Ofir Malka, a director based in Tel Aviv are also part of the team.
Soler Blasco worked at the parent company for more than eight years in various roles, including sales manager, product manger and supply manager.
Soler Blasco wrote on LinkedIn: “Thank you for your support and collaboration. Also, to the founders, innovators, construction professionals, and everyone else in the construction technology ecosystem.”
“Our collective efforts redefine the built environment, and I can’t hardly wait to deepen our collaboration in my new role.”
Edison Fu
Edison Fu is the Asia Liaison and Reporter at Global Corporate Venturing.
Trucking News and Briefs for Monday, June 17th 2024:
The trucking conditions improved significantly in April
According to the latest report by FTR , the conditions for trucking companies were much better in April than in March.
FTR’s Trucking Conditions Index showed a more hospitable atmosphere for carriers in April. However, it remained negative at a reading -1.95. This is up from -7.25. This is the best reading for the TCI since January when it was at -1.41.
The firm noted that both freight rates and financing cost were less negative in April and that freight volume improved throughout the month.
Avery Vise is FTR’s Vice President of Trucking. “Better days for trucking companies are in sight, but the market must still work through the difficult combination of too much freight capacity and sluggish demand,” he said. “The May trucking payroll jobs figures offered some encouragement that the transition is underway. However, a healthier situation will require continued rightsizing capacity and stronger volumes. We do not expect carriers to experience consistently favorable market conditions until early next year.
The index hasn’t been positive since early 2022, and it will likely be mostly mildly positive for the rest of this year. However, FTR says that it could see some positive readings as the index moves closer to neutral.
Vise noted that the trucking industry employment in May was contrary to the overall economic trend. The Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly report shows that trucking lost approximately 5,400 jobs in May, while the economy as a whole gained 272,000. Despite the decline in trucking employment, the entire transportation industry gained nearly 11,000 new jobs in May.
According to Motive’s Monthly Economic Report June 1,229 trucking firms left the market in May. This represents a slight rise from March, but is 67% less than January. The firm reported that May was the third consecutive month where fewer than 2,001 trucking companies left the market. This indicates that the market is stabilizing and moving towards positive growth. Motive also noted that 8,466 new carriers registered in May, marking the fourth consecutive month of more than 8,000 new entries.
The FMCSA has finalized a 25% increase in UCR fees
On Monday, June 17, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration published a final rule which will increase fees for the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement (UCR) for the registration year 2025 and beyond.
In January , the agency proposed to increase registration fees by 25% for the 2025 year. This means that a truck owner-operator with authority will spend an extra $9 per year. Fleets with over 1,000 trucks will have to pay $9,000 more in 2024 than they did.
FMCSA noted that the increase comes after a decrease in fees of 37.3% on average over the past two years.
The board of the plan makes recommendations to the Secretary for Transportation regarding fee adjustments when revenue collections are insufficient or exceed the amount authorized by law. Federal law requires fee adjustments. The fee increases will generate revenues of $13 millions that will allow the UCR Plan, FMCSA said, to cover the shortfalls resulting from the decreases in fees in the two previous registration years.
The agency noted that several commenters on its January proposal asked for clarifications about the fees, while others called the adjustment “unwarranted or unexpected.”
The FMCSA said that the fees are used for motor carrier safety enforcement and programs by participating states. It added that it believes this upward adjustment, the first since 2010, “is within a range of reasonableness.”
“Any amount less than these adjustments would hinder the proper operation of motor carrier safety program, enforcement or administration of the UCR Plan, and UCR Agreement,” FMCSA stated.
The use of technology in elections was a hot topic in the 2020 presidential election. With the explosion of artificial intelligent in recent years, this issue will again permeate the political scene in this year’s
Milos Manic Ph.D. is the director of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Cybersecurity Center. He is particularly concerned about the impact of AI on undecided votes
“Will the undecided part of the electorate, be targeted in a specific way?” He asked, “Will they be fed carefully selected information and specific misinterpreted data?”
VCU News asked Manic to provide insights into the intersection between AI, elections, and society as a whole.
What are the key vulnerabilities that we face when it comes to election integrity?
Social media can quickly and easily create the illusion of group consensus, where 90% of the time this is not the case. Human psychology, human vulnerability, and human psyche are the front lines of battles today.
Since hundreds of years, psychological warfare has been practiced. In the World Wars, a person might have been given a booklet to read to an entire village. It could have been pamphlets thrown from planes. Now, it’s a psychological war through technology. Humans react to something called emotional triggers. Cognitive biases are common in humans.
Is there a way to address these shortcomings quickly, even if they are imperfect?
We could examine four areas. First, we could look at policy. The second is AI that is safe and secure. The third is awareness of the user. The fourth is to look across borders and form alliances.
Milos Manic, Ph.D. served in May as part of the U.S. delegation to the European Union for cybersecurity and AI at Brussels. (Courtesy photo)
The world is late to the AI game in terms of policy. Now, a number organizations, both governmental and nongovernmental as well as nonprofit, are attempting to deal with issues such governance, regulatory frameworks, and policy.
There’s not much we can’t do with our current resources, algorithms, or knowledge if we have enough time. The question is: Are we developing it in the right manner for the right reasons.
We showed six or seven years ago that we could find three algorithms that would solve almost any problem. Question is, will this solution work when it’s put into production? Are we looking for transformations that are as important in the future, as they are today?
What are the other three areas?
To have a safe and secured AI, the key question is can we focus on ethical developers who are unbiased and trustworthy?
The next step will be the users, the public’s awareness and understanding. What are we posting on Facebook? What are we sharing or making available to others on our site? How do we know who we are sharing it with? Facebook users may claim, “I know with whom I share.” No, you do not. You think you know. How can you be sure that your friend is not a fraud and has become someone else?
The next step is to go beyond borders. In the cyberworld there is something called the Five Eyes [Australia Canada New Zealand United Kingdom and United States] which forms an intelligence alliance. Now, enemies can be based on computers or networks located continents away. If there is no alliance, then it will be easy for nefarious agents to invade.
Do you have a job that has a strong connection with election integrity, or political disinformation?
AI fraud detection in real-time is the key. AI is powerful if you have the resources or computer resources. If you have enough data and time, there’s nothing we can’t do. But can you do it real-time?
VCU is the leader of the statewide initiative CCAC – the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Computing. Our center’s centerpiece is the IBM z16. It is one of the supercomputers with on-chip AI that are specifically designed for fraud detection using real-time AI. There are so many powerful algorithms and machines in industry and academia today. But can you do it in real time? VCU is in charge and steward for this state resource.
As AI’s ability to create realistic images and comprehensive texts grows, how would you assess the potential of its threat (or protection) to the political or electoral processes?
The key question is: Can you use AI to achieve something in real-time? All of these attacks, frauds and disinformations happen in real-time. It doesn’t really matter if you give it enough time. The opinion has already been influenced. It’s like not reacting at any time. It’s too much to ask people to change their minds.
I am concerned that these machines may become intelligent enough to customize their responses to the user. They will present the same information in a completely different way to me than to my daughter who is much younger. Her perception of reality will be different from mine. The ability of a computer to learn and adapt in real time is scary.
We must focus on human psyches and human vulnerabilities. What are our vulnerabilities? It’s no longer just engineering and computer science. Human factors, psych specialists and so on.
Beyond elections, what is keeping you awake at night about AI right now – and what makes you sleep better?
It’s always moving. The problem is, the moment the bad actors discover what we can detect they will work to make deep fakes even better.
Some say that we need to develop better tools. Some say that we should be developing better tools. Who will vouch that the vetting tool has not been compromised? This has been the case for years in the cyberspace. It’s a game of cat and mouse. So I am certain that this will not go on. I have no doubt that the good actors won’t stop not sleeping at night.
Real-time detection will be the key in years to come. We will need to develop faster and faster solutions to detect deep-fake content and to provide a vetting system that is tied to our tools. We will have tools to flag in real-time any browser we use, whether it is Chrome, Firefox or Safari.
The vulnerability of humans is what keeps me up at night. How can we keep up with all these changes, and make decisions in a fair way? We are bringing a lot of the practices from cyberspace into AI.
I’m more concerned about humans making a last-minute decision because something happened. This is the main issue today. They will change their opinions based on what they have seen, heard, or been told. Cyberwars will continue because of human vulnerability and human psyche. I’m less concerned about the technical aspect. Humans are the starting point and end of it all.
Subscribe to VCU News
Subscribe to VCU News by visiting newsletter.vcu.edu. You will receive a variety of stories, videos and photos, as well as news clips, event listings and news clips.
Yesterday, trade unions at Asiana Airlines lodged objections against the merger with Korean Air Lines.
The opposition comes after more than a fortnight since Air Incheon won the bid to acquire Asiana’s cargo arm as a condition of a merger deal.
The union representing Asiana’s flight crew and a union representing office staff claimed that the absorption of Asiana by KAL would cause “national and public harm”.
Both unions called on the Korea Development Bank, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Fair Trade Commission, who have jurisdiction over this deal, to “review it from the ground-up and find another buyer.”
The unions claim that the merger will also result in a reduction in flights between South Korea, Europe and the United States to the detriment for consumers.
The unions stated: “The so called mega-carrier promoted by KAL has become nothing more that a façade, serving only to allow chief executive Cho Won Tae (Walter Cho), to defend his managerial rights.”
Asiana’s union, reminiscent of HMM employees’ opposition to Harim Group’s failed acquisition of HMM claims Air Incheon “is like a shrimp trying swallow a whale”.
The South Korean government wants KAL to buy the heavily indebted Asiana. To satisfy the European Commission’s Anti-trust Authority, KAL will transfer its Seoul to Frankfurt routes to T’way Air, a low-cost carrier from South Korea.
The union’s response is: “KAL decided to give back an extensive number of transportation rights in order to proceed with this unreasonable merger. This will result in the transfer trillions of won ($billions) in annual revenue from domestic carriers to foreign airlines.”
13 countries have approved the takeover of Asiana by KAL, with the US still pending. KAL hopes to complete the divestment by October of Asiana’s freight arm.
Lufthansa Cargo will expand its reach in southern Germany by launching freighter operations at Munich Airport (MUC) on July 6, 2024.
This is a first, as the hub will now use an A321 cargo plane for a connection to Istanbul Airport twice a week.
This new route offers increased flexibility and capacity to the existing belly network in Munich.
Munich Airport Launch
“We are excited to offer our customers this enhanced service,” said Ashwin Bhat, CEO of Lufthansa Cargo.
“The new freighter link strengthens our global networks and offers businesses in south Germany a reliable, efficient option for air cargo transport.”
“Munich Airport has an ideal infrastructure for reliable and fast cargo movement. This facilitates global trade through this important European hub.”
This launch reflects our commitment in aligning our network with changing customer needs.
Jost Lammers, CEO of Flughafen Munchen GmbH echoed this positive sentiment. “The introduction by Lufthansa Cargo of regular cargo flights from Munich to Istanbul is a significant change for both Bavarian Exporters and Munich Airport.”
The airport’s cargo importance is evident from the above-average growth rate we’ve seen in this year. The presence of Lufthansa Cargo will further cement Munich’s position as an important cargo hub.”
Photo Credit: Munich Airport
Munich Cargo Hub
The hub of Lufthansa Cargo in Munich is impressively large, covering 38,000 square metres. It includes the CEIV-certified Pharma hub MUC, which is state-of-the art.
This is specifically designed for the optimal storage and handling of temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products.
The extensive RFS road network and this specialized facility allow Lufthansa Cargo, at its Munich hub, to handle a wide range of goods and products.
Previously, cargo movement was primarily dependent on the belly capacity of passenger aircraft such as those operated by Lufthansa Brussels Airlines, Discover Airlines, Austrian Airlines, and SunExpress.
This expansion by the airline represents a significant boost to the cargo operations at Munich Airport and strengthens its role as a vital European airfreight center.
Businesses in southern Germany can now trade globally with greater efficiency and reliability thanks to the new freighter services and advanced facilities.
In 2023, a revenue of 3.0 billion euro and a performance of 7.5 billion ton kilometers of freight transport were achieved. This makes Lufthansa Cargo one of the leading companies in air freight transport.
Around 4,150 employees work for the company worldwide. Lufthansa Cargo focuses on the airport-to -airport business.
The network consists of around 300 destinations in over 100 countries. It uses both freighter aircraft as well as cargo capacity from passenger planes.
They are operated by Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines. Discover Airlines, SunExpress, Discover Airlines, and Brussels Airlines also operate trucks. Frankfurt Airport handles the majority of cargo.
img alt=”Lufthansa Cargo at Frankfurt Airport.” class=”wp-image-77332 lazyload” decoding=”async” height=”681″ loading=”lazy” src=”https://svc.eye1.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/1024px-Frankfurt_Airport_-_Boeing_777-FBT_-_Lufthansa_Cargo_-_D-ALFA_-_2017-07-09_17-56-26.jpg” width=”1024″/>
Radoslaw Drozdzewski (User:Zwiadowca21), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In 2023, the B777F fleet was expanded continuously.
The carrier also expanded its short- and mid-haul network with A321 Freighters. Last year, the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Program was also continued.
In 2024, Lufthansa Cargo will equip its B777F fleet successively with Sharkskin Technology, implement additional digital services, and contribute to reducing carbon dioxide emissions through sustainable logistic solutions.
Spot market volumes for vans and reefers hit record highs in May, but rates are still low
DAT Freight & Analytics monthly demand/volume/rates reports tracking spot market activity revealed that rates rose in May due to higher volumes of van and refrigerated freight. The DAT Truckload Volume Index, an indicator of the number of loads moved in a given period, reached all-time highs in both segments.
Van reached 289 on the Index, up 4% since April
Reefer: 224 also a 4% rise
Flatbed, on the other hand, fell 2% to 301
Although the volume is high, rates (the line in the chart) are still at levels similar to those of last year.
The van TVI and reefer TVI both increased by 13% and 25%, respectively, when compared to May 20,23. The flatbed TVI dropped month-over-month, for the first since December 2023.
Ken Adamo is the Chief of Analytics at DAT. He said, “Stronger van and reefer volume is consistent with May when shippers move seasonal goods and retail products and truckload capacity becomes tighter due to Roadcheck inspection and Memorial Day holiday.”
As a result of this, capacity pressures increased, as did the flight of many small fleets and owner-operators from the anemic spots markets, whether through choice, or due to involuntary failure. DAT noted that spot rates responded. The national average van and refrigerated linehaul rates were within 2% of what they were in May 2023.
Spot van: $2.01 per mile, up 2 cents
Spot reefer: $2.41/mile up 9 cents
Spot flatbed: $2.52/mile, unchanged
The contract markets are still much more attractive in terms of rates, especially for fleets with direct customer contracts. DAT’s contract averages for April compared to May:
Contract van: $2.43 a mile, down by 2 cents
Contract reefer: $2.79/mile down 3 cents
Contract flatbed: $3.16/mile up 1 cent
According to the weekly report of Truckstop and FTR Transportation Intelligence, spot reefer prices have been declining since the end of May. However, they gained some luster in the last week.
Norman Camamile, a one-truck independent, who operates from Zionsville, Indiana with his Cherry Tree Park Transportation company, has found the reefer spot market to be extremely challenging in recent months. He has been operating with authority for about three years. He started his career during the heyday of reefer spot freight. “Of course, as everyone knows, the bottom has fallen out,” he said.
He said that it’s gotten so bad without direct customers, he has been weighing up the cost of “reefer’s trailer payment” against the revenue losses he could take by only using power. Recently, “reefer is still the winner, but only just.” “… rates are in an abysmal state.”
New report offers solutions to women truckers’ challenges
The American Transportation Research Institute released a new report this week identifying ways to increase the number women truck drivers who enter and stay in the industry. The research quantifies six key challenges faced by women truck drivers and lays out a plan of action for fleets, schools, and drivers to make trucking more attractive to women.
The Research Advisory Committee of ATRI identified this research as a priority in March 2023 to better understand the challenges that women drivers face.
The challenges identified included: trucking image, perception, completion of training schools, truck park shortages, restroom access, gender harassment, and discrimination. The research involved input from thousands truck drivers, motor carrier and truck driver training school through surveys, interviews, and focus groups to identify underlying challenges and strategies to overcome them for women drivers.
The research “gives voice to thousands of women who have found satisfying careers as truck drivers,” said Prime trucker Emily Plummer. “And encouragement to other females to consider truck driving positions.”
The study found that women are attracted to driving careers because of the income potential. It also revealed that women and men earn equal wages in trucking.
This report is a roadmap that will help the industry increase the number women drivers, said Joyce Brenny. Brenny Transportation President and CEO. “We have seen tremendous success with our female drivers and improved safety. We believe that others who use this research will also see success.”
Ocean carriers and forwarders: Port congestion in Asia is easing. It’s shifting to India
Ocean carriers and forwarders report that the flow of cargo through Singapore and other major Chinese ports is improving, but India’s largest container port, Mundra, is struggling to cope with the increasing transshipment volume.
