BlueCargo, has raised $11 million in new funding led by Soma Capital and Left Lane Capital, bringing the total amount raised to $15 million.
The logistics SaaS platform that optimizes the entire container workflow from port to warehouse, in this new round will allow the company to expand its geographic footprint in North America, invest in its core technology, and continue attracting top talent in the areas of product and engineering, industry experts and business leaders.
“Pre-covid, companies didn’t have an appreciation of the detailed costs of drayage. This has changed as companies are looking to streamline their operations and want to know the true cost of drayage. BlueCargo is the only platform that can help you monitor, forecast and mitigate accessorial fees: demurrage, detention, and per diem. In 2022 alone, we saved one of our customers Forrest Logistics, a freight brokerage, more than $5 million in fees,”
Alexandra Griffon, CEO of BlueCargo
BlueCargo connects any importer, logistics provider, or drayage carrier on its platform to move cargo on time at the ports and decrease demurrage and per diem fees.
BlueCargo instead of navigating multiple, scattered pieces of information provides container level tracking, audit trail visibility and documentation, in one single window connected to all North America’s busiest container ports. BlueCargo’s proprietary algorithms aggregate hundreds of different sources of information to only showcase the most reliable data and, for the first time, empower operators to adapt in real time.
Containers flow from port to first-mile destination faster, more reliably, and cost-effectively.
BlueCargo at present is being used by 1,200 drayage trucking companies to schedule their daily container pick ups and returns on its platform, making it the largest operational drayage carrier connected network in the United States.
The Los Angeles and New York-based startup was founded by two female entrepreneurs originally from France, Alexandra Griffon (Chief Executive Officer) and Laura Theveniau (Chief Product Officer).
The company is up to no small task when the industry is lacking standards, data sharing and interoperability. Shippers can find out where their products were lost overboard days or weeks after an incident occurred, while dispatchers rely on phone calls and text messages to know the gate schedules, and ask the terminals for exemptions.
This $11 million new funding round will be deployed to roll out the BlueCargo platform across any North American shipment, double its fully in-house US-based engineering team and continue building its core technology – BlueCargo ConnectTM .
The coming years present new challenges and objectives such as preparing for growing trade volumes, reducing greenhouse emissions and change in regulation – starting with the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 and shippers being directly involved in accessorials billing processes. It is the right time for drayage and logistics companies, brokers, freight forwarders and shippers to ensure they have the right partners, technology and tools to adapt, like BlueCargo.
