Nowports, an automated digital freight forwarder in Latin America, has raised $150 million in a Series C funding round which values the company at $1 billion.
Digital freight forwarders use digital tools that improve communication and efficiency in the shipping process, among other things, to help shipments get where they need to go in a timely manner. The importance of an efficient supply chain has become more apparent since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The freight forwarding sector still lacks transparency and efficiency, which is why it is a global challenge. Latin American startups have a steep hill to climb, but this makes them innovate and help each other in interesting ways.
The Monterey, Mexico-based startup announced six months ago that it had secured $60 million in a Series B funding round. It is the third equity raise in less than a year and brings the total funding to over $240 million. The company raised $16 million in a Series A funding round.
Alfonso De los Ríos, the CEO and co- founder of Nowport, said that the startup's valuation jump is a huge one. In the first quarter of 2022, the company saw its revenue grow more than 12 times over the 2014–2018, while achieving a 10x growth in containers shipped and customers served.
Nowports raised its initial seed round after graduating from Y Combinator with a mission to innovate the freight forwarding industry by helping companies improve the import process. The company was going to be the Flexport of Latin America, according to Jonathan Shieber. Over time, it has expanded its offerings and now also provides inventory financing to its clients.
Nowports aims to streamline the import and export processes of Latin American companies and improve the visibility of their supply chains with valuable information.
The inventory financing tool was released last year and is designed to give customers the ability to acquire more merchandise for import and pay for it later. The goal is to increase imports and exports.
They can get faster financing with Nowports since we can use our shipping history and information to approve them.
The move is part of Nowport's goal to serve as a one-stop shop for companies it serves.
In the first quarter of 2022, Nowports started operations in Panama and expanded into other countries. The startup has 10 offices in seven countries. There are more than 500 employees.
The company plans to use its new capital to hire more people and focus on engineering for technological development. It will open offices in more cities and expand its presence in countries where it already operates. The first openings will be in Brazil, Mexico and Chile.
The latest round had Tiger Global, Foundation Capital, Broadhaven Venture, and Base10 Partners in it. Roger Laughlin of Kavak, Daniel Vogel of Bitso, Alex Bouaziz of Deel, and Ricardo Amper of Incode all participated in the round.
We were not expecting to start Series C so quickly, but we were growing at giant steps, competing in the top five countries for maritime trade, and with a strong team. We are confident that we can change the supply chain with this new capital.
Juan Franck, managing partner of SoftBank Latin America Fund, said that Nowports has all the characteristics the firm is looking for in a startup: technology at its core, a promising business model, exceptional founders, and a solution to a complex challenge.
The company uses artificial intelligence, big data and the internet of things to improve the import and export chain.
The investment will help Nowports to consolidate its presence in the Brazilian market and create new services and solutions, becoming a true reference in innovation in Latin America.
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