Today, Fleeting, a Black-owned commercial trucking and fleet management services company, is proud to announce that it received a seed round investment of $500,000 from Kyrie Irving, NBA superstar and founder of new consulting firm, KAI 11 Consulting, and Lockstep Ventures, the new venture fund founded by Michael Loeb, Bonin Bough, and Marcus Glover.
The joint investment from KAI 11 Consulting and Lockstep Ventures will help Fleeting grow its social impact arm to include hiring and training people from marginalized communities, including women and those who were formerly incarcerated.
“I am thrilled to receive this investment from KAI 11 Consulting and Lockstep Ventures to further scale our business and empower those from underserved communities. The trucking industry is one of the fastest-growing in the U.S. and I want to ensure it provides access to everyone who wants to be part of it. I intend to help those in the Fleeting family to become financially independent and even entrepreneurs themselves,” said Pierre Laguerre, founder and CEO of Fleeting.
Later this year, Fleeting will offer a three-month training program for formerly incarcerated men and women to provide them with the tools needed to obtain a commercial driver’s license once released. By removing bias from its hiring process, it gives all employees equal access to financial freedom. Fleeting also provides incentives for women truckers and those with families by providing flexible hours and access to shorter trips.
In addition to its social impact, Fleeting is also addressing the shortage of truck drivers. Many experts believe the trucking industry needs to hire 900,000 more drivers, especially since 71 percent of all freight in America is moved by truck. Fleeting is also leveraging the underutilized trucks owned by third parties to build a nimble and easily deployable and scalable fleet, as well as use technology to match drivers and trucks to maximize truck utilization and capture a significant percentage of the $700 billion logistics industry.
About Fleeting: Fleeting is dedicated to improving the lives of workers within the transportation logistics space. Our approach to fleet management allows us to give independent truck owners and small carriers the tools and profitability currently available only to large carriers and logistics companies, while simultaneously improving the lives of and creating new opportunities for drivers. We’ve observed the evolution of the consumer transportation, property management, and retail product industries. We are on a mission to translate these changes into trucking to create an ecosystem that promotes loyalty, upward mobility, and self-directed flexible scheduling so that truck drivers can have greater control over their quality of life. Fleeting works as a property manager for commercial transportation assets and finds optimal loads for the trucks we manage on our platform and matches them with available and qualified drivers to ensure maximum return for all parties involved. To learn more, visit www.fleeting.us.
About Lockstep Ventures: Lockstep Ventures is a venture capital firm seeking to address the issues that perpetuate racial inequality in the U.S., which is co-founded by serial entrepreneur and venture investor Michael Loeb, marketing guru and venture investor Bonin Bough, and criminal justice advocate and venture investor Marcus Glover. The mission of the $25M fund is to work, inspire, and empower systematic change while also working hand-in-hand with entrepreneurs to provide successful business formulas to provide a wide range of expertise to help execute, pivot, and fast-track a start-up’s growth. Lockstep Ventures is committed to the investment philosophy of “Disparity to Prosperity” and targets companies that address racial disparities in health, wealth, education, and justice/recidivism. For more on Lockstep Ventures, please visit www.lockstepventures.com.
