Paul Jarrett, co-founder and CEO of Bulu Fulfillment, the third-party logistics startup in Lincoln, wasn’t expecting the company to be acquired this year. Bulu just recently bought out its investors for sole ownership, and was growing and profitable.

But in The Avid Group, a Canadian apparel company, Bulu found a match in values and opportunity that was too good to pass up. “Other companies that wanted to acquire us, they wanted to either have us work remotely, or work in different countries, or change how we’re doing a ton of things, and that really wasn’t the point,” Jarrett said. 

“When Avid came through, they’re like, ‘Hey, we want this to be our U.S. thing, and we want to grow this, and there’s jobs here,’” he said. “That’s what really sung for us.”

The Avid Group announced on Nov. 24 that it had acquired Bulu for an undisclosed amount. In a perhaps notable arrangement, Bulu will keep its name and, while running U.S. logistics and printing for Avid, will continue to serve other companies. Jarrett and his team will still run Bulu and be headquartered in Lincoln.

“If we wanted to just consume (Bulu) into our own business and wipe them of their history and past, we wouldn’t have acquired such an incredible business with an incredible team,” said Avid founder and CEO Jesse Guth. 

Guth’s goal is for Bulu to serve 100% of The Avid Group’s U.S. demand, which has been driving the company’s recent growth. The acquisition means adding 50,000 square feet of warehouse space to Bulu’s existing 100,000 square feet and adding the equivalent of more than 100 full-time jobs. (Many of Bulu’s employees are part-time warehouse workers.)

Keeping the Lincoln location “allows us to reach almost every U.S. address in two to three days by ground,” Guth said. He also cited Nebraska’s quality work ethic and the support of Lincoln’s mayor and the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce as added benefits. “Nebraska, and Lincoln specifically, have welcomed us with open arms.”

Bulu’s winding startup journey

In 2012, after working in the vitamin supplement industry, Jarrett and his wife and co-founder, Stephanie, ran a half marathon in San Francisco. At the finish line, they saw supplement companies offer samples, but without getting any helpful follow-up data on what people liked or disliked. 

It sparked an idea: What if people could get samples shipped to their door as part of a subscription and give feedback directly to companies? The Jarretts came back to Nebraska, fundraised $1.5 million in venture capital from investors like Nebraska Angels and launched what was then called Bulu Box. 

In a short time, they had about 60,000 monthly subscribers for premium supplement samples at $10 a month and made their own supplements, too. Unlike many early startups that aim for growth now and profit later, Bulu Box was already making revenue. But it struggled to find further support for growth.

“Nobody really knew what to do with us,” Jarrett said. “We weren’t a software (company and) people didn’t really know how to fund consumer goods.”

By 2016, Bulu Box raised more capital for a total investment of roughly $5.5 million. It was also stretched across three core businesses: turnkey subscription box services for companies like Disney and Crayola, its own subscription box service and a LinkedIn-like platform for the consumer goods industry called Bulu Marketplace.

Jarrett decided it was too much. Bulu Marketplace was sold off and the company went all in on turnkey services. It was a successful niche.

“Nobody could figure out how to do a subscription box when it came to both packing it and getting it physically out on time,” Jarrett said. “And then, crazy enough … a lot of people didn’t understand how to do subscription billing, which sounds so funny now.”

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. Consumers cut out fun perks like subscription boxes in favor of necessities. Logistics and shipping became a tangled mess. Bulu Box struggled — but Jarrett also saw an opportunity.

“The one thing people (were) coming to us for is just to store their products, pack them and ship them,” he said. “Understandably, investors weren’t super interested in that business because it’s not incredibly unique. But … just because the market is boring, or because the industry is not the most interesting to people, there’s usually a lot of problems to solve.”

So the Jarretts bought back their startup from investors and focused on third-party logistics and fulfillment. Scaling the new business worked, with Bulu handling roughly ten times more shipments in 2025 versus the year before.

But this year brought another unexpected shakeup — the Trump administration’s pursuit of widespread high tariffs against other countries. Tariffs are a tax paid by American importers.

Suddenly, companies outside the United States were interested in acquiring Bulu for their logistics abilities and to make U.S. fulfillment easier given the new tariffs. Jarrett saw another opportunity to grow Bulu. The leadership team put together an acquisition document to formalize the process of considering a buyer.

A few days later, the CEO of a logistics software used by Bulu reached out. The Avid Group was interested — and soon after, they had a deal.

Lessons for Midwest startups

Often, startups are acquired as a necessary step to profitability for founders and investors alike, who cash out and can then pursue other ventures. But in working through the unusual situation of being a private, self-owned startup and still choosing to be acquired, the Jarretts have done a lot of thinking about what really motivates them.

At first, it was the promise of money that comes with founding a startup. “Then we shifted more into ‘It’s probably ownership (that) matters to us,’” Jarrett said. With investors, “we’re always having to kind of report up and grow something for somebody else.”

But now, the motivation is providing jobs, benefits and opportunities — a realization Jarrett credits his wife and co-founder with helping him to understand. “You start hiring like 100, 200 people, it’s a pretty significant impact for a town the size of Lincoln,” Jarrett said.

Bulu’s journey also reflects the state of entrepreneurship in the Midwest. Geography matters when it comes to startups, Jarrett said. A consumer subscription service felt out of place and was a challenge to fundraise for. But a logistics company is right at home.

“I would love to see the Midwest focus more on transportation and logistics and agriculture,” Jarrett said. “A lot of times in the startup industry in the Midwest, folks will start something that’s way outside of the realm of the Midwest attitude (or) industries. And it might sound great in the beginning, but I think when they go to look for those additional rounds of capital, it’s really difficult.”

Founders also should embrace change, including pivoting their startups for new opportunities and communicating openly with investors about their needs.

“I see a lot of founders struggle with … they think they’re set in a certain way with investors, or they think they’re set in a certain way in a market, and they don’t realize — you can change those things,” Jarret said. “Contracts can change, people can change. You just have to pursue those things and ask.”

Lev Gringauz is a Report for America corps member who writes about corporate innovation and workforce development for Silicon Prairie News.