Why We Invested in Lean Staffing Solutions

Today we announced FTV’s $42.5 million growth equity investment in Lean Staffing Solutions (LSS), a pioneer in nearshore, expert outsourced solutions for US transportation and logistics companies.

Leveraging Colombia as the preferred nearshoring hub for the US’s largest trucking and 3PL brands, LSS provides deep domain expertise, exceptional talent with industry-leading retention, and consultative guidance to recruit and manage dedicated employee teams that operate as an extension of the customer’s back-, middle- and front-offices.

As we analyzed the market (my FTV colleague Jerome Hershey writes more here about FTV’s BPO domain expertise and the advantages of Colombia), it was clear that LSS was not only the largest, fastest-growing player by an order of magnitude, they are the true innovator in this space. The proof is in their meteoric ascension: LSS has scaled nearly 3,000%, from a staff of 14 in 2016 to more than 1,500 employees today; and in 2020, the company was named on the Inc. 500 list for America’s fastest-growing private companies for the second year in a row, moving from #409 to #347.

Already in partnership with many of the world’s top-tier transportation and logistics (T&L) companies (7 publicly traded companies and >20 of the top 100 brokers in the US), LSS is penetrating a massive and growing market opportunity with tailwinds around booming e-commerce businesses; increasing demand from consumer staples, autos and housing; and other COVID-related societal shifts, including a more distributed workforce / suburban migration broadening demand outside of major cities, thus increasing demand for T&L companies.

One of the many reasons we found the business so compelling is that they’re approaching this market in a way that has uniquely helped a lot of carriers, shippers and 3PLs to manage the ebbs and flows around supply and demand – delivering this flexibility is key in T&L.

With DNA in trucking and extensive ties throughout the transportation sector, LSS co-founder Roberto Cadena has been able to not only recognize this massive gap in the market, but also to understand the nuances of this industry and deliver precisely the right services and technology expertise and teams that are truly viewed as extension of their customers’ offices.