Universal Transit

Universal Transit is bringing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the auto-transportation industry.

This is an often-overlooked, but surprisingly massive, industry. In the U.S. alone, there are more than 283 million vehicles registered. And about seventy-five percent of these vehicles are transported by trucks when they’re brought to dealerships or owners. This creates a sector in North America valued at $114 billion.

But trying to ship cars fast, affordably, and with any level of predictability is challenging enough. That’s before factoring in disruptions in today’s supply chains.

More than forty percent of trucks carrying new cars run partially empty on each trip. And that adds up to billions of dollars in lost earnings every year. This is a utilization problem within the auto-transportation sector. And it’s a costly one. Yet only about twenty percent of those within the sector are reaching maximum operational performance, with the remainder struggling to optimize operations and maximize profits.

This is where Universal Transit can make an impact. This company combines human expertise with machine intelligence to help customers navigate the auto-transportation sector and increase efficiency.

Essentially, its technology monitors key metrics, including on-time pickups and deliveries, load-carrying capacity rate, and route profitability. Here’s how it can help customers:

Traditionally, those looking to transport cars locate trucks that are available, then gather proposals from potential carries and engage in bid negotiations. Dispatchers then manually plan each trip and complete the job.

This process seems simple enough. But it can take hours of back-and-forth discussions. And there are no guarantees that a trucking company will be available or that a load will be full.

Using Universal Transit’s technology, though, algorithms select and match the most suitable trucks for a shipment. Dynamic pricing is generated and presented to carriers, who can immediately accept a bid. Finally, trips are auto-created with dynamic adaptability, selecting optimal routes and requiring minimal dispatcher intervention. The entire process takes minutes, not hours.

Revenues for Universal Transit are growing fast. In 2021, the company generated about two million dollars. In 2022, revenue jumped to eight million dollars. And last year, revenues were close to ten million dollars.

In 2023, Universal Transit experienced 200% growth of its carrier and shipper network, sixty-five percent growth within its staff, and facilitated the transport of more than 500,000 vehicles.

Universal Transit has been featured in Business Insider, Yahoo! Finance, and Inc. And in 2023, it was named Top Tech Startup by Supply & Demand Chain Executive and Food Logistics. This award spotlights top software and technology startups in the supply-chain and logistics space.

To generate revenue, Universal Transit collects car-shipping charges, subscriptions for its technology, and a percent of brokerage & carrier-management fees.

With its technology, Universal Transit aims to reduce empty truck miles by up to ninety percent and reduce operational costs by up to fifteen percent. The company’s founders have invested $210,000 of their own money into their business. And they boast more than a decade of experience in automation, high-tech, and fleet management.

Team Background

Beka Osepaishvili - Co-Founder & VP of Fleet Operations

In addition to his role with Universal Transit, Beka is the Owner of Lions Parking, a facilities-services business that focuses on parking and transportation solutions. He has owned this business for more than ten years.

He studied at Long Island University.

Anzori Nishnianidze - Co-Founder & CTO

In addition to his role with Universal Transit, Anzori is Founder and CEO of CyberDynamic, an IT-services business.

Most recently, he was a software-engineering consultant with Siemens, a technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, and transportation. Before that, he was an engineering consultant with Wells Fargo.

Earlier in his career, Anzori was a software engineer with Medidata Solutions, a software-development company. Prior to that, he was a software architect with Jimmy Jazz, a sneaker retail chain.

Anzori began his career as a software engineer with Europe-Bet, a popular gambling and betting platform. He holds a Master’s degree in Nanotechnology from Tbilisi State University in the Republic of Georgia.

George Milorava - Co-Founder & CEO

George has a background in IT.

He began his career as an IT technician with United Telecom of Georgia, a telecommunications company. He then was an IT engineering specialist with Altaokay, a consumer-electronics business based in the country of Georgia.

From there, he worked as a system administrator with Europe-Bet, a gambling and betting company also based in the country of Georgia. After that, he was a senior-system administrator with Betsson Group, a software-development company.

More recently, George was a cloud-automation engineer with Invar Technologies, an IT-services company. He then was an automation engineer with Logicworks, another IT-services company.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree from Georgia Technical University.

Co-Investors