Skip to main content

Flexports Ryan Petersen joins venture firm Founders Fund as a partner

Flexport founder Ryan Petersen has joined venture capital firm Founders Fund as a partner, as reported by Forbes earlier today.

Founders Fund confirmed the move to TechCrunch, providing the following statement from General Partner Trae Stephens: “We’ve always struggled to define the quintessential Founders Fund founder. Clearly, it’s Ryan. We’re thrilled to welcome him to the team.”

Petersen — who stepped down as CEO of Flexport last August — himself acknowledged the move on Twitter, with a tweet saying:

I have joined Founders Fund. If you are someone who’s out to get revenge after having been wronged by a previous employer or investor, a French technical founder who fled socialism to build your company in America, or a Christ-like figure of any kind, please get in touch.

Petersen founded Flexport, a logistics startup that raised $2.4 billion in funding since its 2013 inception, according to Crunchbase. Founders Fund was an early investor in the company, which last raised in February of 2022 — a $935 million Series E co-led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and MSD Partners that valued the company at $8 billion. Founders Fund participated in that round as well.

The new role won’t be a huge leap for Petersen considering that over the years, he has backed as an angel investor over 50 startups, such as Teleport, Repool and construction tech startup Pulley, according to Crunchbase. He will be based in San Francisco.

Over the years, Flexport was hailed for being able to grow so successfully despite operating in a decidedly unsexy industry. TechCrunch former reporter Josh Constine wrote this feature about how Petersen and the company were stepping up in the war against COVID. Using freight software it built, the full-service air, rail truck and ocean freight forwarder doubled revenue to $3.3 billion in 2021, moving almost $19 billion in gross merchandise through its platform. And Petersen told the American Journal of Transportation in March that Flexport’s estimated 2022 revenue was $5 billion. 

Last month, TechCrunch reported on Kaitlyn Glancy, who had spent more than eight years with Flexport — the last four of them as the outfit’s vice president of North America — announcing that she had joined the world of VC as the newest partner at the venture firm Eclipse.

Interestingly, Founders Fund also last September reported that fintech startup Brex’s former chief revenue officer, Sam Blond, was becoming a partner at Founders Fund.

Flexport’s Ryan Petersen joins venture firm Founders Fund as a partner by Mary Ann Azevedo originally published on TechCrunch



from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/6uXfwom
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Silent Revolution of On-Device AI: Why the Cloud Is No Longer King

Introduction For years, artificial intelligence has meant one thing: the cloud. Whether you’re asking ChatGPT a question, editing a photo with AI tools, or getting recommendations on Netflix — those decisions happen on distant servers, not your device. But that’s changing. Thanks to major advances in silicon, model compression, and memory architecture, AI is quietly migrating from giant data centres to the palm of your hand. Your phone, your laptop, your smartwatch — all are becoming AI engines in their own right. It’s a shift that redefines not just how AI works, but who controls it, how private it is, and what it can do for you. This article explores the rise of on-device AI — how it works, why it matters, and why the cloud’s days as the centre of the AI universe might be numbered. What Is On-Device AI? On-device AI refers to machine learning models that run locally on your smartphone, tablet, laptop, or edge device — without needing constant access to the cloud. In practi...
1 comment
Read more

Apple’s AI Push: Everything We Know About Apple Intelligence So Far

Apple’s WWDC 2025 confirmed what many suspected: Apple is finally making a serious leap into artificial intelligence. Dubbed “Apple Intelligence,” the suite of AI-powered tools, enhancements, and integrations marks the company’s biggest software evolution in a decade. But unlike competitors racing to plug AI into everything, Apple is taking a slower, more deliberate approach — one rooted in privacy, on-device processing, and ecosystem synergy. If you’re wondering what Apple Intelligence actually is, how it works, and what it means for your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you’re in the right place. This article breaks it all down.   What Is Apple Intelligence? Let’s get the terminology clear first. Apple Intelligence isn’t a product — it’s a platform. It’s not just a chatbot. It’s a system-wide integration of generative AI, machine learning, and personal context awareness, embedded across Apple’s OS platforms. Think of it as a foundational AI layer stitched into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and m...
Post a Comment
Read more

Max Q: Anomalous

Hello and welcome back to Max Q! Last week wasn’t the most successful for spaceflight missions. We’ll get into that a bit more below. In this issue: First up, a botched launch from Virgin Orbit… …followed by one from ABL Space Systems News from Rocket Lab, World View and more Virgin Orbit’s botched launch highlights shaky financial future After Virgin Orbit’s launch failure last Monday, during which the mission experienced an  “anomaly” that prevented the rocket from reaching orbit, I went back over the company’s financials — and things aren’t looking good. For Virgin Orbit, this year has likely been completely turned on its head. The company was aiming for three launches this year, but everything will remain grounded until the cause of the anomaly has been identified and resolved. It’s unclear how long that will take, but likely at least three months. Add this delay to Virgin’s dwindling cash reserves and you have a foundation that’s suddenly much shakier than before. ...
Post a Comment
Read more