Most startup stories don’t begin at the dinner table, but for Krenar Komoni, that’s where the problem first came into focus. Visiting his father-in-law, who ran a trucking business in Worcester, Massachusetts, Komoni noticed that his phone never stopped ringing.
“I would go to his house, he would be on the phone trying to figure out where his drivers are. Did they load, did they unload? What's going on? He would be on the phone at 10 pm, 11 pm, trying to watch a movie, trying to eat dinner.” As a longtime engineer, Komoni couldn’t ignore his in-law’s stress. So he built a GPS tracker, which eventually led to him founding a company.
That company is Tive, and today it’s helping global shippers monitor not just where their goods are, but how they’re doing in real time. Komoni, who previously designed chipsets, saw an industry still relying on passive loggers that only revealed problems after shipments arrived. “That’s too late,” he thought.
From high-value electronics to vaccine shipments, Tive is now embedded in some of the world’s most sensitive freight lanes. He said that one Australian meat distributor was able to cut insurance claims by 90% using the devices. If a refrigerated truck’s temperature spikes, the system sends alerts and helps carriers act before the cargo spoils. “We want to help customers save their shipments,” Komoni stressed.
Gartner recently identified “ambient invisible intelligence” as a top supply chain trend for 2025, highlighting how ultra-low-cost sensors can provide real-time visibility into perishable goods and ensure compliance with environmental regulations, which is exactly the type of functionality Tive delivers.
Tive has also helped customers comply with food safety laws that require temperature logs to be stored for at least a year, which can be challenging when data is often lost when passive devices are discarded. By streaming that data to the cloud in real-time, Komoni’s platform ensures it’s always accessible and can be audited.
That vision helped Tive grow and raise $40 million in a Series C round backed by World Innovation Lab and Sageview Capital. While growth has come fast, Komoni’s vision has remained focused. “I’m not looking for an exit,” he said. “I’m looking to make a difference in this world.”
