Speed dating for companies.
That's what helped draw 20 startups to Chattanooga this week, including a trio from the United Kingdom, in hopes of growing their supply chain or mobility businesses.
The companies took part in Hub + Spoke 2023, organized by Chattanooga logistics venture fund Dynamo and enabling the startups to potentially secure new business with larger entities or investments.
Over two days, the startups spent 25 minutes in round-robin meetings making their pitches across tables with decision-makers of 20 large, established companies such as restaurant giant Chick-fil-A, trucker Schneider National and local names including EPB and Southern Champion Tray.
"We hope to start new partnerships with U.S. companies ... and use the opportunity to expand in the USA," said Charles Owen, co-founder and chief operating officer of London-based startup Red Sky, in an interview.
Red Sky uses a supply chain software solution in the trade finance space to close the distance between agri-food buyers and sellers worldwide, according to the company. Owen said he'd been in San Francisco before coming to Chattanooga at the invitation of Dynamo to meet possible future customers.
Large companies taking part in Hub + Spoke may benefit from adopting technology in the supply chain from the startups, said Santosh Sankar, one of Dynamo's managing partners.
"We facilitate that engagement," he said in an interview. "Sometimes it results in business opportunities."
(READ MORE: Chattanooga-based Access America sold)
Sudarsan Thattai, chief information officer for one of the event sponsors, Lineage Logistics, said in an interview that larger businesses such as his like to hear from innovative companies in the supply chain arena.
Products can come out of the interface with the startups, said the official for Lineage, which operates in the temperature-controlled logistics industry.
The aim is to eliminate waste in the supply chain, said Eric Ristow, Lineage's vice president of product management.
"That's a lot of what we're focused on, how to reduce spoilage," he said in an interview. "This is an opportunity to sit back and talk about the art of the possible."
Barney Williams, co-founder and chief executive of startup Zeelo, said his London-based company provides employee transportation services to companies, including Amazon.
"We connect people who couldn't get to their place of work to companies," he said in an interview.
(READ MORE: These trucking and logistics companies have Chattanooga roots)
Some people may not afford a car or are just a one-vehicle family, Williams said.
"It's a common challenge," he said.
Dynamo was created in 2016 by the former owners of logistics company Access America — Allan Davis, Barry Large and Ted Alling — to help launch more businesses that bring innovation and technology to that industry.
Hub + Spoke, formerly known as Founders Camp, is in its fifth year.
None of the 20 startups taking part are from Chattanooga this year, though Triplemeter, with headquarters operations in Nashville and Seattle, uses technology to handle empty container tracking and inventory management.
In addition to the three UK companies, four of the startups are headquartered in New York City, three in Seattle and two each in San Francisco and Chicago, as well as others from Arlington, Virginia; Cary, North Carolina; Detroit; Los Angeles; Reston, Virginia; and Boston.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.