Loadsmart, a New York-headquartered digital freight broker, has raised $21.6m in series A funding led by Maersk Growth, Connor Capital SB and Chromo Invest. This brings the total investment in Loadsmart to date to $34.7m following previous seed investment and a convertible notes round. The current investment will be used to scale Loadsmart’s operations team while doubling down on product and engineering.
Loadsmart leverages artificial intelligence to automate the truckload booking flow in the United States. It provides instant prices to shippers with capacity guaranteed on all US lanes. Through its automated platform, shippers can book a truck in seconds manually or integrate via an API to have a server-to-server booking with no human intervention.
Maersk Growth is joining Loadsmart as one of its leading investors. Maersk Growth is the launchpad for new ventures at A.P. Moller – Maersk.
“We see huge potential with Loadsmart. Forward integrations between ocean shipping and over-the-road services can create incredible synergies and eventually provide a full service to shippers,” said Sune Stilling, head of Maersk Growth.
Loadsmart also signed a strategic partnership with funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management.
Emmett McCann, managing director and co-portfolio manager, Oaktree, said, “Loadsmart has a solid company strategy and exciting distribution plan. They have built an outstanding team with advanced technology that can be deployed alongside our investment portfolio to digitize and accelerate supply chain and transportation logistics execution.”
Felipe Capella, co-founder and chief product officer, Loadsmart, commented: “We are at our core a data company. With the highest ratio of engineers in the industry, we were the first to introduce truckload instant pricing and booking, and the market’s first server-to-server autonomous truckload booking via our API. This tech-first approach has allowed us to set in place a fully scalable and automated distribution model.”
