M&A

Houston logistics SaaS company makes strategic acquisition

Houston-based Velostics has made an M&A move to integrate new software onto its platform. Photo by Tom Fisk from Pexels

A Houston company that has created software to automate logistics at terminals, plants, and warehouses has announced the acquisition of a California-based startup.

Houston-based Velostics Inc. has acquired Terusama, a logistics tech company with dock management and truck scheduling capabilities. The company's software solution that speeds up truck loading and unloading w2ill be rolled into Velostics's platform.

"We are enthusiastic about integrating Terusama's truck scheduling with Velostics' load automation and check-in solutions. The combined offering enables Velostics to create a new standard for inbound logistics automation," says Gaurav Khandelwal, CEO of Velostics, in a news release.

"We can now bring to market unmatched ROI on logistics automation, by providing visibility into future demand, reducing delays associated with load prep and staging, eliminating manual errors, improving throughput and reducing operating costs and detention at our customers' facilities," he continues.

The two software-as-a-service solutions aim to reduce delays and errors, improve ROI, and provide visibility into deliveries and future product demand.

"Appointment scheduling technology is a powerful lever to track, measure, and improve operations at facilities large and small. Being part of the Velostics family gives Terusama the opportunity to not only continue that mission, but also to accelerate and to serve larger markets," says Andrew Denta, CEO of Terusama. "I have full confidence that Velostics' unique capabilities, out-of-the-box integrations with carriers and solid support resources will further fuel the growth at Terusama and further reduce cost to the customer."

The details of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in San Francisco last year, Terusama has raised $150,000 from Y Combinator, according to Crunchbase, and has two employees.

Terusama's trucking software will be implemented into Velostics's services. Image via terusama.com

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The 250,000-square-foot building is the new home for four key research areas at Rice: advanced materials, quantum science and computing, urban research and innovation, and the energy transition. Photo courtesy of Rice

As the academic year officially kicks off, professors have started moving in and Rice University has opened its largest core campus research facility, The Ralph S. O’Connor Building for Engineering and Science.

The 250,000-square-foot building is the new home for four key research areas at Rice: advanced materials, quantum science and computing, urban research and innovation, and the energy transition. The university aims for the space to foster collaboration and innovation between the disciplines.

"To me it really speaks to where Rice wants to go as we grow our research endeavors on campus," Michael Wong, Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, whose lab is located in the new facility, said in a video from Rice. "It has to be a mix of engineering and science to do great things. We don’t want to do good things, we want to do great things. And this building will allow us to do that."

At $152 million, the state-of-the-art facility features five floors of labs, classrooms and seminar rooms. Common spaces and a cafe encourage communication between departments, and the top level is home to a reception suite and outdoor terrace with views of the Houston skyline.

It replaces 1940s-era Abercrombie Engineering Laboratory on campus, which was demolished in 2021 to make way for the new facilities. The iconic sculpture "Energy" by Rice alumnus William McVey that was part of the original building was preserved with plans to incorporate it into the new space.

The new building will be dedicated to its namesake Ralph O'Connor on Sept. 14 in Rice's engineering quad at 3 p.m. O'Connor, a Johns Hopkins University grad, became a fan Rice when he moved to Houston to work in the energy industry in the 1950s.

The former president and CEO of the Highland Oil Company and founder of Ralph S. O’Connor & Associates left the university $57 million from his estate after he died in 2018. The gift was the largest donation from an estate in Rice's history and brought his donations to the university, including those to many buildings on campus and endowments and scholarships, to a total of $85 million.

“How fitting that this building will be named after Ralph O’Connor,” Rice President Reginald DesRoches said in a statement last summer. “He was a man who always looked to the future, and the future is what this new engineering and science building is all about. Discoveries made within those walls could transform the world. Anybody who knew Ralph O’Connor knows he would have loved that.”

The dedication event will be open to the public. It will feature remarks from DesRoches, as well as Rice Provost Amy Dittmar, Dean of the Wiess School of Natural Sciences Thomas Killian, Chair of the Rice Board of Trustees Robert Ladd and Dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering Luay Nakhleh. A reception and tours of the new building will follow.

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