The Road Ahead: Trucks Venture Capital’s Bold Investment into Transportation’s Future
For over a decade, Reilly Brennan, co-founder of Trucks Venture Capital, has been at the forefront of supporting entrepreneurs shaping the future of transportation. From autonomous vehicles to electric air taxis and EV charger maintenance, Brennan has seen it all and invested in it too. Now, together with partners Jeffrey Schox, Kathryn Schox, and Puneeth Meruva, he is gearing up for a new wave of innovation with a fresh $70 million fund.
Though the identities of the fund’s investors remain under wraps, Brennan shared that there are seven strategic limited partners onboard. These include significant players such as an automotive supplier, a tire manufacturer, an insurance company, and an airline carrier. This marks Trucks’ third fund and is their largest so far. With plans to make around 30 seed investments, they are ready to back startups with checks ranging from $500,000 to $2 million at seed and pre-seed stages.
- Charger installation-as-a-service startup Treehouse
- Zero-emissions jet aircraft company JetZero
- Low-cost high-frequency kinetic launch firm Auriga Space
- AI master tech developer Carvis for mechanics
Trucks VC’s approach to investing has evolved since its inception in 2014 but remains grounded in its original ethos. Their strategy isn’t about filling quotas or sectors; it’s about being so compelling that top founders are eager to engage with them early on. Brennan emphasizes this point: “Our main strategy is to be so good that the best founders have to have a conversation with you early,” he explained.
“We realized we were seeing somewhere between 100 and 150 new companies a month and thought ‘why don’t we wait and see if there’s a great founder that opens us up to a new idea we hadn’t thought of.’”
{Reilly Brennan, Trucks Venture Capital}
This open-minded approach has led them into exciting new territories like aviation and aerospace—fields not considered part of their mission back in 2015. Some notable past investments include Bear Flag Robotics, acquired by John Deere; Zendrive, bought by Intuit last year; Joby Aviation; autonomous company Gatik; and automated flight control startup Skyryse.
With their new fund and forward-thinking investment strategy, Trucks Venture Capital is poised to continue driving innovation in transportation technology. By focusing on exceptional founders rather than predefined ideas, they open themselves up to revolutionary possibilities that could reshape our world.
