Motive files for IPO, signaling next phase of fleet-tech arms race

Fleet telematics supplier Motive has filed paperwork to spell public, a determination that could intensify contention successful the commercialized trucking exertion marketplace amid a prolonged freight downturn.

San Francisco-based Motive disclosed Tuesday that it filed a registration connection for an archetypal nationalist offering connected the New York Stock Exchange nether the ticker awesome MTVE, according to institution statements and regulatory filings. The institution has not yet acceptable a stock terms oregon offering size.

Motive provides AI-powered tools for fleet tracking, operator safety, compliance, instrumentality monitoring and walk management. Founded successful 2013 arsenic KeepTruckin, the institution says it present serves astir 100,000 customers crossed transportation, logistics, construction, vigor and manufacturing.

Motive’s competitors successful the fleet telematics marketplace see Samsara (NYSE: IOT), Geotab (NYSE: GEO), Fleetio and Trimble (Nasdaq: TRMB), each offering broad solutions for GPS tracking, ELD compliance, operator safety, substance absorption and maintenance.

In September, Motive won a ineligible lawsuit against Samsara, with a justice ruling that Motive did not infringe connected immoderate valid Samsara patents.

Motive is backed by Alphabet’s task superior arm, GV (Google Ventures).

For the trucking industry, Motive’s determination toward nationalist markets underscores however telematics and automation person evolved from optional add-ons into halfway infrastructure. Carriers proceed to look bladed margins, elevated security costs and tighter regulatory oversight — pressures that person driven adoption of dashcams, automated reporting and real-time conveyance data.

Motive reported astir 23% year-over-year gross maturation successful the 3rd quarter, but remains unprofitable arsenic it continues to put aggressively successful merchandise improvement and artificial intelligence, according to nationalist filings.

Motive’s S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows the institution is progressively diversified beyond trucking. As of Sept. 30, astir 30% of Motive’s yearly recurring gross came from trucking and logistics, with faster maturation coming from construction, tract work and rider transit customers.

While trucking remains a large market, the displacement suggests Motive’s semipermanent strategy is little tied to freight cycles than galore smaller telematics providers.

The S-1 filing besides highlights Motive’s propulsion to deepen multi-product adoption among fleets. About 89% of halfway customers present usage 2 oregon much Motive products, and nett dollar retention rates transcend 110%, meaning customers thin to walk much implicit clip adjacent without adding vehicles.