Digital freight logistics company Cogoport secures Series-A funding From Accel Partners

Mumbai-based Cogoport, a digital freight logistics venture, today announced that it has secured Series-A round of funding from Accel Partners.

Launched in May 2016, Cogoport is an online international freight exchange currently offering price discovery and booking using a data-driven technology solution to make the most cost-effective match between exporters and importers, on one hand, and ocean and air freight carriers, on the other.

In a telephonic conversation, the co-founder did not disclose the exact amount of fund raised. However, various media houses suggest it to be close to Rs 40 crore.

The fund will enable Cogoport to invest in developing new product and fuel business growth by expanding globally and increasing its footprint in the domestic market. 

The platform enables price comparison for trucking, custom and inland docking charges. Technology-led solutions aimed at offering enhanced business experience are at the heart of the brand’s value proposition. Its business model is built around principles of aggregation and marketplace. The technology-enabled product is designed to simplify the global freight buying by empowering customers all over the world to make a transparent decision on every element of goods movement, from price discovery to delivery of goods, optimising spends, retaining in control through real-time information flow and intuitive customisable dashboard, focusing on a seamless customer experience.

Purnendu Shekhar started his entrepreneurial journey alone, and soon roped in Kunal Rathod, Nishant Dalmia and Harsh Kumar as co-founders.

After starting its operations in February 2017, Cogoport has had a steep growth trajectory despite being in stealth mode; this validates the pain points of customers. Cogoport is expanding its team globally and strengthening processes to cater to significant demand, with more than 400 enterprises waitlisted to start transactions. Today, a little over 3,000 customers are using various features of the platform to streamline their daily work.

Purnendu says, “Over the last year we have been able to validate our firm belief that technology can transform the erstwhile frameworks of freight industry, which are opaque by design and inefficiency in the system. Our customer-centric approach has been very positive for us, as we took the risk of building our product along with our customers. This round will help us expand our wings globally. We are delighted to have Accel backing us in our vision of democratisation of this industry.”

Accel’s Shekhar Kirani says, “The timing is right for disruptors in the global logistics and freight category, as the market is massive and growing. Deep domain experience, global expertise, fantastic product specialisation, strong technology background, and financial banking expertise, we felt the team has all the ingredients for targeting the sizeable global market. We are very excited about the future of Cogoport and its value proposition across the globe."

Cogoport, with its operations in Asia and Europe, is expanding its team globally. With a substantial Series A funding, the company is investing in the customer-centric growth of the business.

Global logistics has been disorganised and deprived of technology for ages and has always been ripe for disruption. This multi-trillion dollar global industry has seen tremendous investor traction over the past couple of years with companies in the US and Europe providing technology-driven products for the market. The turn of the international value chain has come post investors exhausting their bets on domestic logistics players in the trucking and hyperlocal segment.