Freight forwarding and logistics have long been an industry that relies on disparate workflows, heavily reliant on a pen and paper model despite trillions of dollars of annual trade. The pandemic has led to an increase in digital adoption as the need to continue commerce superseded the industry’s traditional unwillingness towards anything digital. Nuvocargo is an all-in-one digital platform that’s focused on cross-border trade between the US and Mexico, a $600B+/yr market. The company offers freight forwarding, customs brokerage, insurance, and is also looking to make a mark in trade financing. Supporting businesses with unprecedented transparency and efficiency, the company grew revenue 25X during the pandemic with plans to expand its geographic footprint and headcount. AlleyWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Deepak Chhugani to learn more about how his own personal paint point with his family’s business led to the need for this business now, the company’s future plans, and latest funding round from investors that include QED Investors, FJ Labs, Clocktower, NFX, ALLVP, MAYA Capital, Magma Partners, One Way Ventures, and Ride Ventures.
Logistics
Loadsmart Raises Another $90M for its Real-Time Trucking and Shipping Marketplace
Trucking is the dominant mode of freight transport in the United States and the total addressable market exceeds $800B per annum. However, the logistics industry has traditionally relied on disparate means (faxes, emails, and spreadsheets) to manage the many moving parts involved with shipments. Loadsmart, a freight management platform and marketplace, automates how freight is priced, booked, and shipped. AlleyWatch caught up with Hunter Yaw, VP of product management, marketing, and sponsorships, to learn more about Loadsmart’s impact on the logistics industry, expansion plans, and recent round of funding from investors that include
BlackRock Inc.’s Innovation Capital, Chromo Invest, TFI International Inc., and shipping giants Maersk.
Odeko Raises $12M to Help Small Cafés and Local Eateries Streamline Supply Chains
In the wake of the pandemic small neighborhood coffee shops, bakeries, and cafes had to scramble to adopt mobile ordering and needed to place an emphasis on managing their supply chain to ensure survival. Odeko is the simple-to-use technology platform that allowed them to do both and quickly. CEO Dane Atkinson shares some insight on the company, its mission-driven purpose enabling neighborhood businesses to compete with the larger chains, and recent round of funding from investors that include GGV Capital, First Round, Primary Venture Partners, Box Group, Addition Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, and Y Combinator.
Crisp Raises Another $12M to Solve Inefficiencies in the Global Food Supply Chain
“We have all walked into a grocery store and seen empty shelves, while food is being wasted at alarming levels. This paradox is the result of thousands of food companies being dependent on outdated, siloed infrastructure. Crisp transforms the value chain by providing an open data flow to solve critical problems such as out-of-stock, shrink, on-shelf optimization, and adaptation to changes in consumer demand.” We caught up with serial entrepreneur and Founder Are Traasdahl (exit Tapad for $360M) to learn more about how Crisp’s technology helps better manage the food supply chain during the pandemic, the company’s impressive growth, and recent funding round from investors that include FirstMark Capital, Spring Capital, and Swell Partners.
CALA Raises $3M to Help Influencers and Creators Launch Fashion Brands From Scratch
CALA is a full-stack managed solution for people looking to launch their own fashion and clothing line. Design, sourcing, sales, and fulfillment are all handled on the platform, which is also supported by a network of experts. Newbie fashion entrepreneurs are often overwhelmed with all the moving parts and CALA makes it easy all for a monthly subscription fee and percentage of sales. CEO Andrew Wyatt shes some light about the company’s traction which includes clients like NFL player Travis Kelce, rapper A$AP Ferg, and model Tatiana Ringsby. The company, founded in 2016, also just closed its seed round from investors that include Maersk Growth and Real Ventures.
MakeSpace Raises $55M for its Affordable and Flexible On-Demand Storage Solution
In 2012, Rahul Gandhi was living in Brooklyn when Hurricane Sandy hit. The amount of destruction and flooding required the need for temporary storage. That experience led to the founding of MakeSpace with the mission to change the complex, expensive, and labor-intensive experience of self-storage. Fast forward to today and MakeSpace is now available in 31 markets across North America, with over 30,0000 customers and has raised a total of $142.6M across seven rounds. Gandhi shares more about the impressive journey and future plans…
Axle Payments Raises $1.4M to Help Smaller Freight Brokers Manage Their Cash Flows
Equipped with sophisticated back-ends, larger conglomerates are often outcompeting small freight brokers, but Axle Payments wants to change this by empowering over 10,000 freight brokers currently operating in the US with sophisticated back-end solution. Axle Payments has automated the back office to handle collections, carrier payments, and integration with accounting while freeing up to 90% of […]
Reinventing The Wheel, Autonomously
Logistics in America is one of the fastest-growing private sectors of the economy, generating more than $1.6 trillion of spending (or close to 10% of GDP) in supply chain, transportation, and distribution investments.
Anvyl Raises Another $9.3M to Make the Supply Chain Manageable
Anvyl, the production hub where brands manage their supply chains, was created by a founder who has seen the supply chain from multiple perspectives – the United States Army, Apple, and DTC shaving brand, Harry’s. While one may grapple to find similarities among these entities, one thing is for certain, there were holes, gaps, and […]