Berlin-based technology company’s operating system for air cargo designed ‘to simplify and streamline fragmented market’.
cargo.one, the digital booking platform for air cargo, has raised $18.6 million in venture capital to fund its expansion in North America and Asia.
The Berlin-based technology company has also announced that in response to rising demand, it plans to ‘onboard’ new airlines, grow in additional markets and hire 70 employees, tripling the size of the company by the end of the year.
cargo one said it already counts Lufthansa, All Nippon Airways, Finnair, Etihad, AirBridgeCargo and TAP Air Portugal among its 12 partner airlines, helping them boost their financial performance in the face of the challenges posed by COVID-19.
The Series A investment was led by global venture capital firm Index Ventures, with the participation of Next47 and prior backers Creandum, Lufthansa Cargo and Point Nine Capital. They were joined by a number of angel investors.
Martin Mignot, partner at Index Ventures, commented: “cargo.one has formed close partnerships with major global airlines, who have subsequently seen their cargo business expand significantly. Conversations with dozens of other airlines in the Americas and Asia show the clear need for a simple booking engine for air cargo, and early signs of the far-reaching impact it will have on the airline industry and businesses around the world who rely on it to serve their customers.”
As well as its partner airlines, cargo.one is serving more than 1,500 freight forwarding offices, including 21 of the top 25 companies globally. From January to June 2020, cargo.one saw the number of air cargo search requests by freight forwarders quadruple. The number of quotes distributed in that time increased by two thirds, while in June alone, cargo.one made more than 1.1 million bookable air freight offers available to freight forwarders.
“The new era of air cargo is being driven by universal access to real-time data,’ said Oliver T. Neumann, co-founder and managing director of cargo.one. “It’s essential that the industry has access to tools that allow players to both respond and anticipate market dynamics.
“From day one, cargo.one has provided freight forwarders with an outstanding user experience and access to real-time data. We now plan to accelerate the release of major product additions that will increase the connectivity between freight forwarders and airlines, and empower them to work more effectively together.”
In the next phase of its growth, the company underlined that it will expand to North America and East Asia, in order to fulfill airlines’ desire to be able to sell globally though cargo.one and serve freight forwarders around the world. It will also build tools that use data to let airlines offer more dynamic pricing, engage in better route planning and predict demand in volatile markets.
“The airline sector relies on operational excellence, but its back-end infrastructure is stuck in the dark ages,” stated Max Rimpel, rincipal at Index Ventures. “cargo.one’s platform doesn’t just help to bring air cargo bookings into the 21st century, but lays the foundations for a complete overhaul of how the air cargo industry operates, leveraging data to help both airlines and freight forwarders to run their cargo operations more efficiently.”
Source: Lloyd’s
