Five years to the day after AOL co-founder Steve Case first came to Chattanooga to invest in a burgeoning logistics industry, the billionaire investor returned Wednesday to help launch an initiative to support new businesses focused on sustainable ways to move freight, people and information.
Case, whose Rise of the Rest tour has funded startups from non-coastal states, praised Chattanooga’s efforts to launch and nurture more startup businesses in what local promoters have dubbed Freight Alley.
As home to two of the nation’s biggest long-haul trucking companies and more than a dozen freight logistics operators, Chattanooga already has the highest share of logistics industry jobs of any major city.
Case and local leaders also said the central location, high-speed data networks and Smart City research at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga make Chattanooga ideally suited to develop and grow businesses in logistics and related fields.
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