Zencargo, the digital freight forwarder, today announces the completion of its Series A funding round, bringing the total funds raised to $20m. The round is led by HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, with participation from Tom Stafford, Managing Partner at DST Global, Pentland Ventures, and previous investors Samos, LocalGlobe and Picus Capital.
Zencargo approaches logistics differently from the traditionally paper-based industry, transforming supply chain management through software and automation. Established in 2017 by co-founders Alex Hersham, Richard Fattal and Jan Riethmayer, the company’s digital platform has already been adopted by many of Europe’s leading growth businesses, including some with billion-dollar supply chains. The speed at which the company can deploy solutions has seen the business grow incredibly quickly, with Zencargo growing sixfold in the last year.
Zencargo’s platform digitises the end-to-end process, surfacing data in moments so supply chain teams can make informed, timely decisions. Zencargo’s strategy enables businesses to release working capital otherwise tied up in slow-selling inventory, and be more agile, which is a key driver of success in the current era of global uncertainty. A recent study by McKinsey demonstrated that digitising the supply chain delivers the highest ROI of any initiative, growing revenue by 3.2 per cent.
Alex Hersham, co-founder and Chief Executive, said: “Failing to digitise the supply chain is holding back Global businesses, with $1.1 trillion left on the table from stock-outs and inventory mistakes. Our mission is to change this. Business leaders want increased agility in their supply chain and through our platform we are seeing customers drive cost and working capital improvements in their first few months of adoption by unlocking supply chain insights.”
Jan Riethmayer, Zencargo’s co-founder and Chief Technical Officer, added: “Getting the right products on the shelf at the right time is a vital concern for most businesses. Our technology enables businesses to collaborate in real-time with thousands of suppliers around the world and make informed decisions about their supply chain – from giving a complete consolidation picture to unlocking savings on freight cost and CO2 emissions, optimising load fill, boosting container utilisation, and reducing the amount of energy wasted and emissions created by shipping air around the world.”
In addition to continued investment in its core technology platform, Zencargo will use the latest funding to accelerate the expansion of its recently formed Supply Chain Analytics and Insights group. The team members bring a wealth of experience from leading business transformation at Fortune 500 companies. Their goal is to leverage Zencargo’s proprietary predictive analytics and machine learning technologies to partner with clients and set a standard for excellence across the breadth of the supply chain.
Christian Saller, General Partner at HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, said: “We’re excited to be working with the Zencargo team. The size of opportunity in this space is enormous and we believe that Zencargo’s approach of bringing automation and a single version of truth to the supply chain will be transformative for customers.”
About Zencargo
Zencargo is a digital freight forwarder & logistics provider. Its digital platform uses automation and machine learning to allow customers to enhance their supply chain management. This unlocks key supply chain insights, helping businesses to make informed decisions that shorten lead times, increase supply chain agility and reduce working capital.
Founded in London in 2017, the company has grown 6x over the past year and rapidly built out a network of offices around the world with more to come in 2019.
About HV Holtzbrinck Ventures
HV Holtzbrinck Ventures first started investing in technology companies at the turn of the millennium. Since then the team have established their reputation as one of the most successful, experienced and prestigious early-stage and growth investors in Europe. HV Holtzbrinck Ventures has invested over €1 billion in over 160 companies, including Zalando, Delivery Hero, FlixBus and Scalable Capital. HV Holtzbrinck Ventures significant liquidity and innovative investment approach place it as one of the few venture capital firms in Europe that is able to support companies through all growth stages.
