For the unacquainted, digital freight forwarders use digital tools that improve communication and efficiencies in the shipping process, among other things, to help shipments get where they need to go in a timely manner. With so much attention on supply chain issues since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of an efficient supply chain is more apparent than ever. Nowports, an automated digital freight forwarder in Latin America, has raised $150 million in a Series C funding round which values the company at $1.1 billion. Nowport’s raise — led by SoftBank Latin America Fund — comes just six months after the Monterey, Mexico-based startup announced it had secured $60 million in a Series B funding round led by Tiger Global Management. It also marks Nowports’ third equity raise in less than one year’s time and brings its total funding to over $240 million since its 2018 inception. The company had also raised $16 million in a Series A funding round that TechCrunch reported on in July of 2021.
Nowports raised its initial seed round in 2019 after graduating from Y Combinator’s Winter 2019 batch with a mission to innovate the freight forwarding industry by helping companies — with an emphasis on SMEs — improve the import process. As former TC reporter Jonathan Shieber put it, the company was “sett[ing] itself up to be the Flexport of Latin America.” Its software and services track freight shipments from ports to destinations across Latin America. Over time, it has expanded its offerings and now also automates insurance policies for, and provides inventory financing, to its clients. The company plans to use its new capital to, naturally, do more hiring with an emphasis on engineering for technological development. It also plans to expand its presence in countries where it already operates and to open offices in more cities. The first planned openings will take place in Brazil, Mexico, and Chile.