The venture firm Fontinalis Partners was founded in 2009 as its leaders saw an opportunity for technological advancements to improve the way that goods and individuals moved.

"We felt strongly that, over the next several years, there was going to be a wave of innovation that would not only affect the automotive sector, but manufacturing, transportation, logistics, retail, and other high-consequence industry," said Chris Stallman, partner of Fontinalis Partners, in an interview with FreightWaves.

"Smartphone adoption, prior to 2010, wasn't that high so when we first started, it was a time where a lot of the first business models [we invested in] were centered around urban transportation, ride-hailing, car-sharing, and delivery services," said Stallman of the company's past investments that have had successful public offerings, mergers or acquisitions. These include Lyft, Postmates, Telogis, Ouster, and nuTonomy.

On Thursday, the venture firm announced that it has raised $104 million for its third fund, Fontinalis III, to continue focusing on mobility opportunities ranging from seed to Series B funding. 

Stallman explained that this fund will focus on a new frontier of indirect mobility themes that can create great value in optimizing the way that people and goods are moved.

"A lot of these technologies require advances in AI, machine learning, cybersecurity, semiconductors, and a lot of the hard sciences, in order to create breakthroughs to improve how products are delivered to customers," he said.

"We are not just investors in vertical companies like supply chain, industrial and auto technology, but investors in companies that serve a whole variety of different end markets."

An example of these broader mobility-themed businesses is its portfolio company Tomorrow.io, a weather technology company.

"They are in the business of creating new datasets to better predict weather for big enterprises. Some of their customers, like BNSF, worry about things like crosswinds, which lead to derailments of train cars. They have logistics firms, airlines, even major league baseball teams that are all worried about being incorrect on their delays and cancellation decisions," Stallman said.

Venture firm details: Fontinalis Partners

With these new funds, the company is looking forward to investing in mobility applications these including other themes like demand planning and forecasting, e-commerce technology, additive manufacturing, clean mobility, and fintech.

"We are very interested in areas where mobility collides with other themes," said Stallman. "Companies becoming more open to innovation will make these collisions much more frequent."

Disclosure: Fontinalis led FreightWaves' $3.4 million seed round and has been active on its board since.

You may also like:

In search of transformative tech, UP Partners looks to urban air mobility companies

Micromobility company Helbiz secures $30M PIPE as part of SPAC deal

GSCW chat recap: New opportunities ahead via Open Mobility Network