Global freight booking and payment platform Freightos is going public.
The firm said in a Wednesday (Jan. 25) press release that it has closed its previously announced business combination with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Gesher I Acquisition Corp., raised more than $80 million to fund its growth strategy and will begin trading Thursday (Jan. 26) on Nasdaq.
The new capital will be used to further scale the business, increase transaction growth and revenue, and further develop the technology stack, according to the press release.
“Supply chains are fragile, and the last two years demonstrated how valuable Freightos is and can be,” Freightos CEO and Chairman of the Board Zvi Schreiber said in the release. “The company had an outstanding 2022, despite declining freight rates and volumes, demonstrating the power of digitalizing one of the last large offline industries.”
Freightos’ plan to go public was announced in May 2022. In its filings, the company said that it exists as a marketplace serving end customers in a manner similar to Booking.com.
It also said that the matching of buying and selling leverages 3 billion data points and that the industry’s current inefficiencies include more than two hours spent managing each individual shipment, which in turn involves more than 30 people per shipment.
Other platforms, too, are seeking to improve fragmented supply chains. For example, as PYMNTS reported Jan. 13, Ghanaian startup Jetstream raised $13 million to tackle inefficiencies by digitizing African logistics networks and connecting importers, exporters and freight companies.
Freightos’ digital platform connects participants across the freight ecosystem and allows real-time global freight rate comparison, booking, payment and shipment management, according to the press release.
The platform’s users include airliners, ocean liners, trucking companies, freight forwarders and importer/exporters, the release said.
Among those participating in the transaction that raised $80 million are Qatar Airways, M&G Investments and The Prudential Assurance Co.
“Modernizing global freight is a large unmet need of the global economy,” M&G Portfolio Manager Carl Vine said in the release. “Freightos, with its superior marketplace technology, is winning rapid commercial adoption. The recent growth trajectory suggests that the company is well on its way to cementing its dominant position in this opportunity-rich area.”
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