Logistics Startup Freightify Bags $12 Mn Debt & Equity Funding From Sequoia India, Others

Digital freight management startup Freightify has raised $12 Mn in a Series A, debt and equity investment round.

The round was led by Sequoia Capital India along with TMV and Alteria Capital. Existing investors Nordic Eye Venture Capital and Motion Ventures also have participated in the funding round. 

Including the current fundraising, Freightify has raised $14.5 Mn to date. 

Founded in 2016 by Raghavendran Viswanathan, Mohammed Zakkiria and V Anand Babu, the startup is a tech-enabled freight forwarding platform helping SMEs to create their online storefront and manage shipping. 

Explaining the business model, Freightify shared that it offers white-labeled automation solutions to freight forwarders, in turn, helping them digitise procurement, rate management and quotations. It further assists businesses to track and trace shipping vessels. 

“Our mission is to democratize technology for freight forwarders. We solve their challenges through our comprehensive SaaS platform giving them and their customers a live pricing platform like the ones used by travelers to compare airfares, showing real-time rates on a single screen,” said Raghavendran Viswanathan, CEO of Freightify.

The startup will use the fund proceeds to strengthen product offerings, add new functionalities, build channel partnerships and fortify marketing activities. It will also deploy funds to expand in new geographies and hire talent across the globe, particularly in Chennai. 

Global freight forwarding is a $300 Bn space facilitating the movement of cargo from one place to another through a series of manual and legacy processes, said the startup. 

“The freight forwarding industry is a cornerstone of the global trade economy and despite this, much of the industry remains constrained by manual processes and runs on paper, excel sheets and phone calls. Freightify is solving this problem by helping freight forwarders automate rate management and make daily operational workflows fast,” said Mayank Porwal, VP at Sequoia India. 

The startup claims to be rapidly expanding in Europe, Australia, North America and key regions in Asia Pacific and also, manages an employee base of more than 200 resources. 

Its cap table includes Tradeworks VC, Venture Catalysts, 9Unicorns, Blume Ventures and Vinod Kumar Talreja, among others.

In India, it locks horns with logistics management startups such as Cogoport, Rivigo, Shipsy, Shiprocket and Wiz Freight.

As per a Statista report, the country’s supply chain market was pegged at $250 Bn in FY2021. The industry is set to grow at CAGR of 12% to become a $380 Bn space by 2025.