Startup Global Freight Forwarder, Flexport, reaches $3.2 billion value

Not even six years old, and already Flexport is the 11^th largest freight forwarder in the world – pretty impressive for a startup. What’s even more impressive is the USD $3.2 billion in funding that the team have managed to secure for their efforts, in true testament to their high-quality service offering.

The latest round of more than $1 billion came from internationally-renowned investor, SoftBank. The Japanese Vision Fund whose VC portfolio has included electronics giant, Nvidia, and autonomous delivery startup, Nuro, raised the funds in order to drive Flexport’s vision for ‘incredible experiences’ for their 10,000 clients and suppliers.

Back in 2017, company CEO Ryan Petersen laid bare his desire to make Flexport ‘the Uber of the ocean’, and he seems well on track to do just that. Softbank are just the latest in big-name investors backing the fledgling company: Bloomberg BETA, Wells Fargo and SVAngel are just a few of the others to support Flexport’s goals.

The Flexport platform can be described as the ‘modern day freight forwarder’ that provides end-to-end services for air and ocean freight shipping. The digital platform includes real-time consignment tracking, shipment-specific communications and is backed up by a team of experts who ensure everything runs smoothly.

Flexport is specifically geared towards retailers who don’t often ship their own products, instead leaving it to a freight forwarder to handle. Although it’s not a complete unicorn on the market, it’s one of a few who are lightyears ahead of old-school freight management companies. Uber Freight, Transfix and of course Freightabase are some of the companies also moving ahead in the digital age, and providing easy-access platforms to make the freight market more competitive, and reward specialists.

The 600-strong team at Flexport support the company’s core values: to create transparency and peace of mind for the supply chain through the use of all-in-one software.

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Startup Global Freight Forwarder, Flexport, reaches $3.2 billion value

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Startup Global Freight Forwarder, Flexport, reaches $3.2 billion value

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