Envision Cold launches innovative platform to revolutionize cold chain industry

Aug 14

Envision Cold (Envision) today announces the official launch of its cold chain platform with a $500M investment from an undisclosed capital partner. This investment allows Envision to acquire and develop over $1.5B of cold storage assets. The firm provides complete services along the full scope of the cold chain, including transportation, import and export services, and real estate development. Envision has engaged a preeminent real estate development team to oversee all ground-up development projects, which will be essential to its growth.

Since the company's inception, Envision has closed on acquiring cold storage operations and assets in Oakland, Cali., San Francisco, Cali., Laredo, Texas and Vancouver, BC. The company plans to continue acquiring and developing a network of facilities across North America, focusing on markets that are underserved by cold storage from both a physical infrastructure and customer service perspective. Envision provides its users with various services, including traditional cold storage, import/export services, transportation, and blast freezing.

Envision is led by an executive team with a deep history in the cold storage industry, having previously worked together at Americold, the world's second-largest cold storage owner/operator. Austin Solem (CEO) previously launched and ran Americold’s M&A department and played a pivotal role in taking the company public in 2018. While at Americold, he was instrumental in structuring acquisitions totaling $4.6 billion and comprising 99 facilities in 12 countries. Stephen Draper (COO) has 30 years of cold storage experience and was responsible for Americold’s operations in the Southeast region, which consisted of ~50 facilities across 14 states and 3,000 employees. Eric Diaz (CFO) oversaw all regional and operations finance activities for North America Warehouse, Transportation, and 3PL Managed business segments.

“We are excited to announce the launch of Envision and our plans to build one of the preeminent cold storage companies in North America,” said Austin Solem, CEO of Envision. “The magnitude of this investment was driven by the strength of not only our team’s commitment to innovation and service but also to the opportunity within the market itself. The cold storage industry is stronger than ever but needs more national providers to satisfy the increasing demand.”

A Newmark team led by Co-Presidents of Debt & Structured Finance, Jordan Roeschlaub, and Dustin Stolly secured the initial investment for Envision. “We are proud to have represented Envision in the capitalization by a well-respected institutional investor. Led by an expert team, we expect Envision to have a great runway to create scale in the cold storage sector,” commented Jordan Roeschlaub, co-head of debt & structured finance at Newmark.

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