We are delighted to announce this year’s finalists for the BGSA Supply Chain 2026 “Shark Tank” competition.
Meet the five companies pitching live at BGSA’s 20th Anniversary Supply Chain CEO Conference in Palm Beach.
We are delighted to announce this year’s finalists for the BGSA Supply Chain 2026 “Shark Tank” competition, sponsored by G&P Construction. Selected from a record number of applicants representing many high-caliber companies, these five finalists will present their big ideas to an audience of more than 400 supply chain CEOs and senior leaders on day two of the conference.
SPONSORED BY
Best of luck to our 2026 BGSA “Shark Tank” Finalists
- Nilay Parikh – Founder & CEO, Arvist
- Gero Keil – CEO, Levity AI
- Michael Santora – Founder & CEO, Logic
- Chuck Stovall – CEO & Co-Founder, Navflex
- Amit Gir – CEO, Phox Health
These innovators will pitch live on stage in Palm Beach, followed by Q&A with our “Shark” judges and a live audience vote for both the People’s Choice award and Judges’ award.
Judges
- Edward Ryan – CEO, Descartes
- Herb Shear – Chairman, Shear Family Office
- Paul Svinland – CEO, Mallory Alexander International Logistics
Moderator
- Ben Gordon – Founder and Managing Director, BGSA Holdings and Cambridge Capital
The BGSA “Shark Tank” is a proven launchpad for startups
- HappyRobot entered pilot projects with 4 top logistics companies, introduced at BGSA after winning in 2025
- AutoScheduler.ai raised a $6.5M round 6 months after winning in 2024.
- Venti Technologies has raised $36.8M since winning in 2021.
- SecurSpace was acquired less than a year after winning in 2020.
Winners Receive
- $5,000 in legal services for each winner from AmLaw200 firm Benesch
- $2,500 cash prize for each winner from Venti Technologies
- The coveted “BGSA Shark Tank Crystal Trophy”
- Recognition at the Global Supply Chain Dinner on Thursday evening
Past Winners
BGSA Announces Winners of the 2025 Supply Chain ‘Shark Tank’ Competition
HappyRobot.AI Takes Home Both Judge’s Choice and People’s Choice Awards
BGSA proudly announces the winners of the 2025 BGSA Supply Chain “Shark Tank” competition. HappyRobot.AI, led by CEO Pablo Palafox, captured both the prestigious Judge’s Choice Award and the People’s Choice Award.
Sponsored by G&P Construction, the competition was one of the highlights of the BGSA Supply Chain Conference, held January 21–24, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Florida. The “Shark Tank” event featured pitches from high-growth, technology-enabled supply chain companies poised for transformative growth.
“The finalists in this year’s BGSA Supply Chain ‘Shark Tank’ were exceptional. Every entrepreneur delivered innovative and inspiring pitches,” said Benjamin Gordon, Managing Partner of Cambridge Capital, and BG Strategic Advisors. “We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Pablo Palafox, his brother Javi, and the entire HappyRobot.AI team for winning both the Judge’s Choice and People’s Choice Awards. The innovation, collaboration, and application of AI solutions showcased reaffirm the immense potential for transformation in the supply chain industry.”
HappyRobot.AI CEO, Pablo Palafox, commented:
“Being recognized by peers and industry leaders as a top supply chain technology is a testament to our team’s hard work and dedication to innovation. We were thrilled to be named a finalist in the BGSA 2025 Supply Chain ‘Shark Tank,’ and winning both categories is beyond exhilarating. Many thanks to BGSA for organizing such an incredible event—it was the best conference ever!”
The panel of “Sharks” included industry veterans Herb Shear (Chairperson, Shear Family Office; Founder and former CEO of GENCO), Edward Ryan (CEO, Descartes), and Ryan Petersen (Founder & CEO, Flexport), with Benjamin Gordon serving as the moderator.
In addition to the coveted “Shark Tank” Crystal Trophy, HappyRobot.AI received $10,000 in legal services courtesy of Benesch Law.
BGSA also would like to thank all of the finalists for their outstanding presentations, which contributed to the competition’s success.
- Tom Curee – President, Qued
- Ben Emmrich – Founder & CEO, Tusk Logistics
- Rahul Natesh – CEO, JLE Truckwash
- Pablo Palafox – CEO, HappyRobot
- Ashutosh Prasad – Founder & CEO, KoiReader Technologies, Inc.
- Kyle J. Soukup – Founder & CEO, Trucker Recruiters
2024 BGSA Supply Chain 2024 “Shark Tank” Competition Winner – sponsored by G&P Construction
Selected from a record number of applicants representing many high caliber companies, our six finalists were given a unique opportunity to present their concepts to three judges, and over 350 industry decision-makers proactively looking for innovative investment opportunities in our sector.
AutoScheduler.AI CEO Keith Moore emerged as both the People’s Choice winner and the Judge’s Choice winner of the G&P Construction-sponsored BGSA 2024 Supply Chain “SharkTank” competition. The contest, held during the BG Strategic Advisors Supply Chain Conference on January 22-24, 2024, featured presentations from high-growth, technology-enabled supply chain companies poised for transformative growth.
“The finalists in this year’s BGSA Supply Chain ‘Shark Tank’ 2024 were truly exceptional. Every entrepreneur delivered remarkable pitches that showcased their innovative ideas. It’s with great pleasure that we extend our heartfelt congratulations to Keith Moore and AutoScheduler.AI for securing both the BGSA Supply ChainShark Tank 2024 People’s Choice and Judge’s Choice Awards. The outstanding accomplishments we saw at the conference and ‘Shark Tank’ remind us of the incredible strength within the supply chain industry, where collaboration and trust are the forces driving us forward,” said Benjamin Gordon, Managing Partner of Cambridge Capital.
“Being recognized by peers and top industry leaders from all segments of the supply chain as a top supply chain technology is a testament to all the team’s hard work for creating this innovative technology,” says Keith Moore, CEO of AutoScheduler.AI. “We were thrilled to be named a finalist in the BGSA 2024 Supply Chain ‘Shark Tank’ competition, but we were blown away with our clean sweep of both the Judge’s Choice and People’s Choice categories. Many thanks to all the wonderful people at BGSA.”
The winner received $10,000 of legal services from Benesch and a $5,000 cash bonus from former “Shark Tank” Winner, Venti Technologies.
Thank you to all of our judges and finalists!
- Brian Adams – Founder, The Return
- Lyall Cresswell – CEO & Founder, Trustd
- Cassandra Gaines – CEO, Carrier Assure
- Bob Malley – CEO, Sendflex Technology, Inc.
- Dr. Mark Manera – CEO, Offshift
- Keith Moore – CEO, AutoScheduler.AI
Judges:
- Ben Gordon – Managing Partner, Cambridge Capital
- Jack Holmes – Executive Chairman, Emerge
- Edward Ryan – CEO, Descartes
- Herb Shear – Chairman, Shear Family Office
2023 BGSA Supply Chain “Shark Tank” Competition Winners – sponsored by Book Your Cargo.
For the first time ever, two winners were recognized. We want to congratulate Navix.io Co-Founder and CCO, Eric Krueger as the People’s Choice winner of the Book Your Cargo-sponsored BGSA 2023 Supply Chain “Shark Tank” competition and Ian Zaretzky, CEO of Nereus Supply Chain Technologies as the Judge’s Choice winner. The contest, held during the BG Strategic Advisors Supply Chain Conference January 18-20, 2023, featured presentations from high-growth, technology-enabled supply chain companies poised for transformative growth.
Selected from a record number of applicants representing many high caliber companies, our six finalists were given a unique opportunity to present their concepts to three judges, and over 300 industry decision-makers proactively looking for innovative investment opportunities in our sector.
The winners each received $5,000 of legal services from AmLaw200 firm Benesch.
“When we heard we were selected as a finalist for the Shark Tank competition, we were understandably thrilled. Our fellow finalists gave excellent pitches, so to be selected as the People’s Choice winner was an incredible honor for us,” said Eric Krueger, Co-Founder of Navix. “Our team has worked so hard to build a platform to solve a long-standing need in the industry; it’s a good feeling to be recognized by our peers.”
“I was incredibly honored to be selected as a finalist at one of the most important conferences of the year. Our team took home the Judge’s Choice award of the BGSA Supply Chain Conference “Shark Tank” competition, which is an incredible honor and validates what we are doing,” said founder and CEO Ian Zaretzky. “Our Containers-as-a-Service platform Nereus.io came out on top against some amazing technology and tough competition – what an amazing experience.”
BG Strategic Advisors would also like to thank the other Supply Chain “Shark Tank” participants for outstanding presentations and for helping to make the event a great success, including:
- Phillip Akhzar – Founder & CEO, Arka
- Camilo Garcia – CEO, CubiQ
- Mike Malakhov – CEO, Carpool Logistics
- Eric Rodriguez – CEO, Vendorflow
2022 BGSA Supply Chain “Shark Tank” Competition Winner
We are pleased to announce and congratulate DriverFly Founder Julia Pasternack as the winner of the FarEye sponsored BGSA 2022 Supply Chain “Shark Tank” competition. This award recognizes DriverFly for its streamlining of the CDL driver hiring process with their innovative digital full cycle recruiting system.
The contest featured presentations from high-growth, technology-enabled supply chain companies poised for transformative growth. Each finalist was given a five-minute pitch, followed by five minutes of Q&A with our judges. The winner was voted on by the live audience as well as the Shark judges and announced at the Thursday night conference dinner.
“I am absolutely elated that DriverFly was selected by both the audience and judges as the winner for this amazing competition. It was a thrill and honor to present in front of such highly respected and reputable judges.” “As a passionate believer in our ability to challenge the status quo in supply chain, it was truly an encouragement to see our efforts validated by an overwhelming number of conference attendees from across the industry.”
In addition to winning the “Shark Tank,” for which the prize was $10,000 of legal services from AmLaw200 firm Benesch, DriverFly was also voted best company by the conference attendees.
BGSA would also like to thank all the Supply Chain “Shark Tank” participants for helping to make the event a great success, including:
Finalists
- Steve Johanson – President, Starboard Corp
- Sean Jones, CEO – QuickLoadz Intermodal Robotics
- Bruce Kulp – CEO, Deliver One LLC
- Matias Lonardi – CEO, Treggo
- Miles Mufuka Martin – Co-Founder & CEO, Relai
- Julia Pasternack – Founder, DriverFly
Moderator: Ben Gordon – CEO, BGSA Holdings
Judges:
- Ed Feitzinger – Founding Partner, Opportuna Advisors and Former CEO, UTI and VP Global Logistics, Amazon
- Jack Holmes – Executive Chairman, Emerge and Former President, UPS Freight
- Rimas Kapeskas – Operating Partner, Cambridge Capital
- Doug Waggoner – Chairman & CEO, Echo Global Logistics
2021 BGSA Supply Chain “Shark Tank” Competition Winner
Congratulations to Venti Technologies CEO Heidi R. Wyle, Ph.D. as the winner of the Benesch sponsored BGSA 2021 Supply Chain “Shark Tank” competition. The competition, held during the BG Strategic Advisors Virtual Supply Chain Conference January 20-21, 2021, featured presentations from high-growth, technology-enabled supply chain companies poised for transformative growth.
“I am thrilled at this recognition of Venti and our autonomy technology by an in-the-know panel of logistics professionals. Venti’s market leadership in Safe Speed autonomy is transforming logistics operations for large customers not only by offering cost efficiencies and greater vehicle utilization, but also by providing proprietary logistics autonomy functions such as mutli-vehicle independent control and steering, automated tools for map-changes and the ability to operate in complex and tight spaces. We are seeing great success with deployments of our tug-trailers for customers in the $175 billion logistics hubs marketplace, and building a strong pipeline. We anticipate continued growth in industrial businesses and transportation hubs in the U.S. and worldwide.”
In addition to winning the Shark Tank, for which the prize was $10,000 of legal services from AmLaw200 firm Benesch, Venti Technologies was also voted best company by the conference attendees.
BG Strategic Advisors would also like to thank the other Supply Chain “Shark Tank” participants for outstanding presentations and for helping to make the event a great success, including:
- Simon Murray – Co-Founder, CameraMatics
- Mark Campbell, CFA – Co-Founder/CEO, ProduceIQ, Inc.
- Dmitry Shevelenko – Co-Founder, Tortoise
- Dawn Salvucci-Favier – Chief Product Officer/CEO, Greenscreens.ai
- George Kochanowski – CEO/CTO, Staxxon, LLC
Each finalist was given a five-minute pitch, followed by five minutes of Q&A with our judges.
The BGSA Supply Chain Shark Tank is the best place to gain visibility for your startup. Last year’s winner, SecurSpace, sold to fellow BGSA attendee Envase Technologies, just 8 months later.
The Supply Chain “Shark Tank” finalists were judged by “Sharks”:
- Moderator: Benjamin Gordon – CEO, Cambridge Capital
- Jack Holmes – Chairman, Emerge (Former President, UPS Freight)
- Rob Howard – Founder and CEO, Kindred Motorworks
- Herb Shear – Chairman, Shear Family Office
2020 BGSA Supply Chain “Shark Tank” Competition Winner
BG Strategic Advisors is pleased to announce and congratulate SecūrSpace CEO Lance Theobald as the winner of the DAT sponsored BGSA 2020 Supply Chain “Shark Tank” competition featured at the BG Strategic Advisors Supply Chain Conference 2020 held at The Breakers in Palm Beach, January 23-25, 2020.
“The BGSA Supply Chain Shark Tank was a fantastic event. It gave me the opportunity to tell my story to over 250 logistics and supply chain CEOs and leaders. And it helped me get an outstanding deal done for SecurSpace! I ended up selling my company to a fellow BGSA Supply Chain CEO attendee. Whether you are a successful leader or an aspiring entrepreneur, I highly recommend the BGSA Supply Chain conference and the Shark Tank!”
