FROM two friends meeting in a boarding school in the UK, to being named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, Jai Kanwar and Clemente Theotokis have had a meteoric rise in the logistics sector.
When they created Zeus Labs (Zeus) in 2019, their plan was to modernise one of the most traditional sectors of the global economy – transport and logistics.
The company has gone on to become one of Europe’s fastest-growing logistics technology companies, helping businesses take control of their supply chains and drive efficiencies in logistics management.
In an interview with Eastern Eye, Kanwar recalled how while living together during their time at university, he and Theotokis mapped out a plan on how they would use technology to modernise an industry.
“We have tech all around us in our daily lives – you want a car, you want food, you use technology. We were looking at industries that didn’t necessarily have technology, but could use it and we came quite quickly across the trucking industry,” Kanwar said.
Kanwar, 26, said their initial research involved driving around the UK and cold walking into the offices of large trucking companies. “We would just knock on the door and say, ‘can we ask you some questions?’” he said.
“We’d see desktops and laptops, so there was technology in the offices. However, quite a lot of these trucking companies were still working off a blackboard with chalk and map with pins in it to decide which truck is going where, what customer they’re picking up from, and when they’re even doing the jobs.“That was really the inflection point for us, where we decided this is a space where we can really make some change from a tech perspective.”
Kanwar and Theotokis identified a need for innovative technology to transform the movement of freight by enhancing efficiency, minimising costs and reducing environmental impact.
They felt the logistics industry was ‘lagging from a digitisation perspective’.
The company’s early work stemmed from data that showed that 30 per cent of European trucks run empty on a day-today basis, which is the equivalent of one million trucks running completely empty across Europe every day.
Their first product, Freight Connect, launched in August 2020, offers a matching platform where Zeus works with large manufacturers such as Procter and Gamble or Decathlon and matches them to truckers signed up on to the platform.
It allowed small trucking companies to take on contracts with large manufacturers, boosting business opportunities.
“The trucking industry is dominated by companies with fewer than five trucks. These are family owned-businesses. For them, getting access to work with very large businesses and that too with recurring revenue, is unheard of,” said Kanwar.
“Our focus was on getting large contracts from manufacturers and then essentially passing them on to the trucker.”
From supporting truckers with Freight Connect, Zeus launched their second product, Freight Command, with a focus on manufactures.
Zeus is among Europe’s fastest-growing logistics technology companies
“We were able to not only identify a lot of pain points that manufacturers face, but also identify and build relationships with the right stakeholders within those businesses, in order to approach them for our second platform,” said Kanwar.
“Freight Command is a way for large manufacturers to manage all of their suppliers in one place. If, for example, I am Procter and Gamble, I’m working with at least 100 different suppliers per year, and being able to house them in one place (digital platform) is much more efficient in actually being able to track and distribute your freight.”
“A lot of large manufacturers have many systems in place, and what Zeus does is we almost plug in to their existing tech stack to make sure that all of their systems talk to each other.
“There’s a big issue in the manufacturer space when it comes to siloed systems, a lot of systems don’t talk to each other, and the data is skewed, to some extent. That is something we are very focused on tackling, at the moment.” Zeus currently operational in around 15 countries and the company has completed more than 20,000 full truckload (FTL) shipments, to date.
In February 2024, the company secured a large contract with public thirdparty logisitics provider, Wincanton, which acquired exclusive UK and Ireland software rights for Freight Connect and Freight Command.
The year was topped off with Kanwar and Theotokis being named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe Class of 2024 in the Manufacturing and Industry category.
“That was amazing for us, it was a huge honour,” said Kanwar.
“It’s opened so many doors for us, we’ve met so many new people by being named in the 30 Under 30.”
Kanwar’s plan is to now take Zeus to a global market.
“We have been looking into the Middle East, as well as India, where we have closed a few customers already,” he said.
Kanwar was born in Miami, spent his childhood in New Delhi before moving to London where he attended Charterhouse school, King’s College and was a student at the London School of Economics.
He has knowledge of the Indian market, thanks to his family business – Apollo Tyres. “My family come from a tyre manufacturing background – it’s actually now into the third generation of tyre manufacturer in India,” said Kanwar.
“I have grown up with that business mindset and these heroes in my life – my father and my grandfather – I’ve always looked up to them and learned from them.
“That’s one of the main reasons why I wanted to start a business and almost prove to everybody that I also have that business mind.”
Kanwar said his family was supportive of his plans. “Everybody’s proud, to some extent, about me exploring and learning how to run a business.”
“I will never be satisfied until I have reached whatever goal I have in my head, when it comes to Zeus. My goal in life is not only to make my family proud, but to make myself proud and I have to take that responsibility on my own.”
Starlink will next need to acquire spectrum from the government, build ground infrastructure, and carry out testing and trials to meet the agreed security requirements. (Photo: Reuters)
INDIA’s space regulator on Wednesday granted Starlink a licence to begin commercial operations in the country, removing the final regulatory barrier for the satellite internet provider.
The company, led by Elon Musk, has been waiting since 2022 for licences to start operations in India. It received an initial approval last month from India’s telecom ministry and was waiting for clearance from the space regulator.
The licence, issued by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), is valid for five years.
Earlier on Wednesday, Reuters reported, citing sources, that Starlink had secured the licence from IN-SPACe.
Starlink is now the third company to receive approval to enter the Indian satellite communications market. India has previously cleared applications from Eutelsat’s OneWeb and Reliance Jio.
The company will next need to acquire spectrum from the government, build ground infrastructure, and carry out testing and trials to meet the agreed security requirements.
Musk and Reliance Jio’s Mukesh Ambani had disagreed for several months over how spectrum should be allocated for satellite services. The Indian government later supported Musk’s position that spectrum should be assigned, not auctioned.
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Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) reported a 10.7 per cent drop in sales for the April–June quarter, as a temporary pause in shipments to the United States and the phase-out of Jaguar’s legacy models weighed on volumes.
The company, owned by India’s Tata Motors, sold 87,286 units to dealers worldwide during the quarter, compared to 97,755 units in the same period last year.
Retail sales dropped 15.1 per cent in the three months to the end of June, JLR said in a statement on Monday. The company cited a halt in exports to the US in April as one of the main reasons behind the decline. The pause followed the imposition of a 25 per cent duty by President Donald Trump on all foreign-made vehicles sold in the US, one of JLR's key markets.
JLR does not manufacture cars in the US. Its Range Rover lineup is produced in Britain, subject to a 10 per cent levy, while its top-selling Defender SUVs are built in Slovakia, which falls under the higher 25 per cent tariff.
North America, which accounts for around one-third of JLR’s global sales, saw a 12.2 per cent drop in volumes in the first quarter. Jaguar’s luxury sedans, SUVs and sports cars saw a 72 per cent decline in sales, falling to 2,339 units, as part of a planned wind-down of legacy models. Jaguar is set to become a fully electric brand by 2026.
Excluding Jaguar’s performance, JLR’s overall sales declined by 5.1 per cent.
In the UK, Jaguar’s sales were also affected by the phase-out of older models in preparation for its electric vehicle line-up. According to automotive trade body SMMT, British car exports to the US dropped by over 50 per cent in May. However, a new trade agreement between the UK and US is expected to support future sales. The agreement reduces tariffs on UK car exports to 10 per cent from 27.5 per cent, up to an annual limit of 100,000 vehicles.
JLR is among the top car exporters from Britain and contributes about two-thirds of Tata Motors' revenue. Both JLR and Tata Motors are expected to announce their first-quarter earnings in August.
In June, JLR revised its forecast for earnings margin before interest and taxes for the fiscal year 2026 to 5–7 per cent, down from the earlier target of 10 per cent, citing global uncertainty triggered by US tariffs.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Workers are engaged at their sewing stations in a garment factory in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, on April 9, 2025. (Photo by MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
BANGLADESH, the world's second-biggest garment manufacturer, aims to strike a trade deal with the US before Donald Trump's punishing tariffs kick in next week, said the country's top commerce official.
Dhaka is proposing to buy Boeing planes and boost imports of US wheat, cotton and oil in a bid to reduce the trade deficit, which Trump used as the reason for imposing painful levies in his "Liberation Day" announcement.
"We have finalised a draft reciprocal trade agreement," Mahbubur Rahman said on Wednesday (3), adding the government was "hopeful of reaching a win-win agreement".
Rahman said a meeting between officials from both countries was slated for July 8, with the US representing 20 per cent of Bangladesh's ready-made garments exports.
Textile and garment production accounts for about 80 per cent of exports in Bangladesh and the industry has been rebuilding after it was hit hard in a student-led revolution that toppled the government last year.
Trump hit Bangladesh with 37 per cent tariffs in his April 2 announcement, which is more than double the 16 per cent already placed on cotton products.
He suspended the tolls' introduction until July 9, as he did with other global trading partners, though a baseline 10 per cent levy was kept in place.
Bangladesh exported $8.36 billion worth of goods to the US in 2024, while imports from there amounted to $2.21bn, according to the Bangladesh Bank and the National Board of Revenue.
"As part of the initiative to reduce the trade gap, the government already decided to import a large volume of wheat, purchasing 14 aircraft from US manufacturer Boeing, buying cotton and more oil and gas from the US farms," Rahman said.
He did not give further details on the exact timing or extent of the proposed deals, but said the government had held around 28 meetings and document exchanges in a bid to reach an agreement.
Interim leader Muhammed Yunus spoke to US secretary of state Marco Rubio on Monday (30) and told him Dhaka was "working with your officials to finalise a package of measures to effectively respond to president Trump's trade agenda".
Mahmud Hasan Khan, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the national platform of the garment makers, expressed concerns about any deal.
"The already enacted additional 10 per cent tariff is hitting our exporters, and if it goes further, we might lose US buyers," he warned.
But Mohammad Hatem, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), said he was optimistic.
"We are hopeful of a positive outcome on the US tariff before July 9," he said.
"There will be a temporary problem if the US administration does not revise the tariff. But it will largely and ultimately hit the US buyers, as they would have to buy goods at higher prices."
(AFP)
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The Canary Wharf business district including global financial institutions in London.
THE COST of UK government borrowing fell on Thursday, partially reversing the rise seen after Chancellor Rachel Reeves became emotional during Prime Minister’s Questions.
The yield on 10-year government bonds dropped to 4.55 per cent, down from 4.61 per cent the previous day. The pound also recovered slightly to $1.3668 (around £1.00), though it did not regain all its earlier losses.
The movement followed comments from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who told BBC Radio 4's Political Thinking with Nick Robinson that he worked “in lockstep” with Reeves and said she was “doing an excellent job as chancellor.”
Analysts told the BBC that markets appeared to back Reeves, with concerns that her departure could lead to a weakening of fiscal discipline. “It looks to me like this is a rare example of financial markets actually enhancing the career prospects of a politician,” said Will Walker Arnott of Charles Stanley. “If the chancellor goes then any fiscal discipline would follow her out the door and that would mean bigger deficits.”
Mohamed El-Erian of Allianz warned that risk premiums may persist. “I suspect that we will see some moderation, but we will not go back to where we were 24 hours ago,” he said.
Reeves, who became tearful during PMQs after a U-turn on planned welfare reforms that left a £5bn gap in her financial plans, said on Thursday she had been upset due to a personal issue. A Treasury spokesperson also confirmed it was a personal matter.
Reeves told the BBC that the welfare changes would be reflected in the Budget and reaffirmed her commitment to fiscal rules. Jane Foley of Rabobank said Reeves now faces difficult choices but added, “investors do place a lot of store in political stability.”