The news: Logixboard, a Seattle startup that sells software to freight forwarding companies, raised $32 million. It follows a $13 million round raised in April.
The company: Logixboard helps freight forwarders — companies that facilitate how shipments move from shippers to a destination — get a better grip on fragmented documents and data.
“It gives them the ability to manage documents, to manage communication, to manage freight visibility in one platform,” said CEO Julian Alvarez. “It gives them much better control — and typically that translates to significant revenue generation.”
The tailwind: Alvarez said the ongoing supply chain crisis has been a “tremendous driver” for Logixboard. The chaos is forcing more freight forwarding companies to realize the benefits of upgrading their back-end processes, he said. “People understand that technology and digitization is less of a cost driver — it’s more about an ROI equation,” Alvarez said.
The industry: Billions of dollars are flowing to logistics tech startups. One of the largest is Flexport, a digital-first freight forwarding company last valued at $3.2 billion.
Alvarez said Logixboard is not a direct competitor to Flexport, though his company’s customers — traditional freight forwarders — certainly compete with Flexport.
“Our customers are losing deals or key accounts to Flexport because they don’t have the necessary technology,” he said. “And what we typically find is when our customers implement our software, they start going back to those key accounts and they start winning them back.”
Seattle is home to another giant logistics tech startup, Convoy, which is focused on trucking, whereas Logixboard has customers that manage ocean, rail, and flight-related shipments.
The future: The fresh cash will help Logixboard add new features and functionalities, including a payment processing solution. The startup plans to increase its headcount to 140 people by the end of the year, up from less than 60 today.
The founders: Alvarez founded Logixboard with his brother Juan in 2017. They had $2,500 in the bank and no software chops, but identified a need in the market after Juan’s experience working at a freight forwarding company.
“We both operate with the same values and principles in terms of how we want to build out the culture and the business,” Julian said. “So it’s been a fascinating journey. It’s been incredibly rewarding.”
The company originally started in Florida but moved to Seattle after it was accepted in the Techstars accelerator.
The investors: Insight Partners led the Series B round, which included participation from Redpoint Ventures, F-Prime Capital, Social Leverage, and Founders’ Co-op.
Alvarez declined to provide an update valuation. Total funding to date is north of $50 million. Logixboard was recently highlighted as one of Seattle’s potential new unicorns, or billion-dollar companies.
“We see Logixboard’s technology as not just a best-in-class technology solution to help freight forwarders modernize their customer experience offerings, but as an integral part of the supply chain ecosystem that will help move the industry far past decades of stagnant technology,” Teddie Wardi, managing director at Insight Partners, said in a statement.
