One of North America’s largest producers of semi-trailers and liquid transportation systems is getting into the B2B equipment marketplace business.
Wabash designs, manufactures and services a diverse range of products. Those offerings include:
- Dry freight and refrigerated trailers
- Flatbed trailers
- Tank trailers
- Dry and refrigerated truck bodies
- Structural composite panels and products
- Trailer aerodynamic solutions
- Specialty food-grade processing equipment
The Wabash B2B equipment marketplace
Now the company, which generated 2023 revenue of $2.5 billion, is slowly but surely building a B2B marketplace for the transportation and logistics distribution industry. The new marketplace is a digital channel to market Wabash equipment, parts and services, as well as non-Wabash parts and services intended for end customers and dealers, Wabash says.
In the fourth quarter, Wabash and investment firm Fernweh Group LLC each invested $2.5 million and launched Linq Venture Holdings LLC with the intention of building and operating a B2B marketplace.
“The collaboration is strategically aimed to enhancing our ecommerce and partner ecosystem,” Wabash CEO Brent Yeagy told analysts on an October earnings call. “Fernweh boasts a distinguished record in scaling industrial technology.”
Yeagy described the collaboration as important for Wabash and its customers.
“This joint venture will significantly accelerate our development and growth of an end-to-end digital platform that provides an industry-leading experience to our dealers, traditional and non-traditional suppliers of both parts and services, and a broad set of customers spanning the transportation, logistics, and distribution landscape,” he explained.
Launch timeline for the Wabash Marketplace
A formal launch date and other details have yet to be released. But some details are emerging. Wabash has named Sid Sarangi as the managing director of the Wabash Marketplace. Based in London, Sarangi is also chair of Retailigence, an artificial intelligence application developer focused on retail.
“Sid comes with a diverse leadership background, scaling tech within large businesses, and we’re thrilled to have him lead an entity charged with rapid growth and digitally enabled recurring revenue,” Wabash chief financial officer Mike Pettit said during the company’s Q4 2023 earnings call in February.
To date, marketplace development costs for the joint venture are about $6.5 million, according to Wabash.
“Fernweh Group is now playing a crucial role in advancing our digital capabilities, which aim to revolutionize the online experience for our dealers, traditional and non-traditional suppliers of both parts and services and a broad set of customers spanning across the vast transportation and logistics landscape,” Yeagy told analysts in February.
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