Tiger Cool lands $15 million in equity funding

Tiger Cool Express LLC, a provider of temperature-controlled intermodal transportation of produce and food products, said today it has received $15 million in equity funding, a large chunk of which will be used to more than double its number of containers over the next two to three years.

Tiger Cool, which currently has 730 containers, projects a fleet of 2,000 boxes by the end of 2019, Ted Prince, the company's COO, said in a phone interview. Its private equity backers, Barings and Tiger Infrastructure Partners LP, provided the fresh financing.

In a related development, Tiger Cool CEO Tom Finkbiner was named the company's chairman, and said he would step down as CEO sometime this year. A search is underway for Finkbiner's successor. Finkbiner, 66, will remain as CEO until a replacement is named.

In addition, Tiger Cool has hired Larry Shughart to fill the new position of president. For the last eight years, he led the Railway Consulting Practice at WorleyParsons Ltd., a global engineering and consulting firm. Before that, he spent 14 years at rail and intermodal giant CSX Transportation in various executive roles.

Tiger Cool, based in Overland Park, Kan., began operating in 2014 after its founders, which included Finkbiner and Prince, spent three years trying to convince prospective lenders of the viability of its business model, which focuses on the long-haul rail movement of fresh produce using a mix of boxcar and intermodal equipment. Today, the company boasts more than $100 million in annual revenue.