THOR Industries, a manufacturer of recreational vehicles, announced today that it has entered into a strategic partnership with TechNexus Venture Collaborative. According to a release, the partnership will identify and engage entrepreneurs and transformative start-up companies across the globe that will connect and align with THOR to power its strategic initiatives.
The collaboration will accelerate the pace of innovation, improve THOR’s end-customer experience, and drive a number of margin improvement initiatives at THOR.
TechNexus operates as a force multiplier between ambitious enterprises and entrepreneurs to fund and incubate opportunities that lead to new market potential, and ultimately new revenue growth. To create a robust ecosystem, THOR and TechNexus will identify and develop ventures that leverage unique business models, emerging consumer trends, and advanced and new technology applications important to the Recreational Vehicle industry. Prioritizing early- and growth-stage companies globally, THOR and TechNexus will accelerate the success of portfolio companies by contributing industry and technical expertise, access to channel partnerships, and the ability to launch and scale innovative solutions through selective co-development opportunities with THOR.
THOR’s investment in this partnership will empower it to expand access to the RV lifestyle – for the explorers, ramblers, weekend warriors, and every adventurer in-between; and provides a pathway to engage with next-generation technologies like autonomy, robotics, electric vehicles (EV), and digital consumer experience.
“Our venture with TechNexus is an important element of our commitment to maintain our leading position in the RV space not only today but well into the future as we continue to be the industry leader in the identification and adoption of developing technologies. The alignment of our internal innovation strategy with external resources through the venture with TechNexus will enable THOR to continue to move at pace and allow us to remain agile. This partnership will be an important part of the engine that will drive success in our strategic objectives,” offered Bob Martin, President and Chief Executive Officer at THOR.
More than just providing capital for growing ventures, the goal of this effort is to make it much easier for fast-growing and innovative companies to do business with Thor and to give Thor a more diverse view of the technologies, experiences, and features important to our growing customer base.
“Our innovation strategy is focused on the next generation of features that will materially improve the RV user experience. Quality, functionality, sustainability, and convenience are all key focus points of our strategy. We were excited to reveal our electric concept vehicles and the innovation that drives them at the Tampa SuperShow as well as to announce our partnership with ZF Friedrichshafen AG. This partnership with TechNexus will further power our innovation and global reach in a way to make it quickly matter to RVers. Combining a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem with our legacy enterprise insight at scale will make our innovation process faster and ultimately more effective. Our innovation efforts will elevate the experience of the entire industry,” added Todd Woelfer, THOR’s Chief Operating Officer.
“As shifting behaviors and new technologies change the way people think about recreational vehicles – there is an untapped opportunity for THOR to redefine how customers live an RV lifestyle, and simultaneously connect with a new generation of experience-seekers to discover RVs for the first time,” said Terry Howerton, CEO of TechNexus. “We are excited to put the power of the engine that drives TechNexus behind THOR to help drive its innovation strategy at such an incredibly disruptive time in the history of the storied RV industry. TechNexus’ operating model has driven incredibly strong results to our partners, including Brunswick Corporation, the leading innovator in the marine industry.”
About Technexus
TechNexus Venture Collaborative helps leading corporations and ambitious entrepreneurs work together to create new business models, new revenue streams, new products, and markets. Learn more at technexus.com.
About Thor Industries
THOR is the sole owner of operating companies which, combined, represent the world’s largest manufacturer of RVs. For more information on the Company and its products, please visit https://www.thorindustries.com/.