FreightBro becomes the 1st Indian Company to Integrate Maersk Spot on its Digital Platform

FreightBro, a freight-tech start-up, digitizing the manual processes in forwarding, announced the integration of Maersk Spot within its digital platform for freight forwarders. In a first-of-a-kind initiative across India, FreightBro platform will now use Maersk Spot APIs, allowing customers to book and secure container space online and in real-time. With this integration, freight forwarders can now access real-time rates on the platform. This product guarantees equipment availability and cargo loading on Maersk and Safmarine services irrespective of the peak season at a fixed price.

Mr Kathiresan Eswaramurthy, COO, FreightBro, mentioned, "Maersk Spot is indeed a game-changer and our customers can benefit not only from the rate discovery, but they can also search, compare and book instantly, with guaranteed equipment and space availability on the FreightBro platform."

[caption id="attachment_141436" align="aligncenter" width="703"] Maersk SPOT rates on FreightBro - 1st forwarder facing digital platform[/caption]

The booking process in shipping is largely manual and primarily involves a lot of back and forth communication between various stakeholders. With this integration, FreightBro aims to double its digital rate deliveries and online bookings while providing a very simple airline-like booking experience to the forwarding industry. FreightBro has enabled 500+ freight forwarders to sell online using their proprietary digital platform.

Earlier in 2019, Maersk launched its online product, Maersk Spot, that curbs the cycle of overbookings and simplifies the booking process for customers while guaranteeing cargo loading. This is a revolutionary step ahead towards simplifying supply chains and enhancing the overall booking experience in shipping.

About Maersk

A.P. Moller - Maersk is an integrated container logistics company working to connect and simplify its customers' supply chains. As the global leader in shipping services, the company operates in 130 countries and employs roughly 70,000 people. Our mission is to enable and facilitate global supply chains and provide opportunities for our customers to trade globally.

About FreightBro

FreightBro is a freight technology start-up aimed at revolutionizing the trillion-dollar forwarding industry through digitization of the manual processes in logistics. FreightBro aims to equip forwarders with a digital platform that enables them to procure rates faster, increase operational efficiencies, boost sales, make informed decisions using data analytics and thereby provide a seamless user experience.

FreightBro was founded by Raghavendran Viswanathan, Mohammed Zakkiria A and V Anand Babu in October 2016.

FreightBro becomes 1st Indian Logistics Startup to Join Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg

FreightBro, India’s first freight forwarder facing digital platform that digitizes operations for Freight Forwarders, became the first Indian startup to join the Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg in an exclusive event titled ‘Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg Roadshow - An Indo-German Logistics Startups Connect’ Organised by FreightBro, the event focused on the importance and the success of building a digital logistics ecosystem in Germany and the potential of replicating similar ecosystem based models in India.

The event brought together the pioneers of digital transformation in German and Indian logistics sector who discussed synergies, possibilities and opportunities in the logistics and freight forwarding industry.

The first half of the event essentially focussed on logistics startups presenting their industry solutions and business models to Hamburg Invest and Digital Hub Logistics, Hamburg. The second half comprised of informative and interactive sessions of the keynote speakers with the audience comprising of a mix of startups and industry leaders. The keynote speakers were Mr Johannes Berg, Managing Director at Digital Hub Logistics, Hamburg, Ms Lee Lee Ong, Project Director, International Investments at Hamburg Invest, Mr Prasad Menon, CEO, CIBA, Mr Vikram Gupta, the Founder & Managing Partner of IvyCap Ventures and Mr Raghavendran Viswanathan, CEO & Co-founder, FreightBro.

Johannes Berg, Managing Director, Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg, was of the opinion that, “There is immense potential for partnership and expansion opportunities for Indian startups in Germany. We have collaborated with an Indian startup for the first time and introduced FreightBro to one of our hub partners, DAKOSY who are keen on working on Indo-German synergies. We eagerly look forward to further connect Indian startups to hub partners in Germany and connect German startups with the Indian market. We are grateful to FreightBro for organizing a unique event for us in India and enable us to connect with startups which has been immensely satisfying.”

Mohammed Zakkiria A, Co-Founder, FreightBro, said, “Joining hands with Digital Hub is a strategically sound decision for us and is the perfect platform for us to connect with the right partners in Germany and plan future expansion in the European market.”

Mr Prasad Menon, CEO, CIBA, emphasized the significance of incubators in the flourishing of startups in India especially from the idea validation to growth stage. Mr Vikram Gupta, an industry veteran in venture capital, business consulting, M&A and strategy mentioned how the focus for venture capitalists has seen a shift towards logistics based startups and the immense potential they hold.

The Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg is the first port of call for the digital business transformation of the logistics industry in the Hamburg metropolitan region and Germany. Some notable digital hub partners are Hamburg Port Authority, Lufthansa, DAKOSY, Volkswagen, SHELL, HHLA and City of Hamburg.

After the recently established partnership with Port of Wilhelmshaven, this collaboration with Digital Hub Logistics, Hamburg comes as a significant step ahead in strengthening FreightBro’s Indo-German ties and establishing a footprint in the European logistics hub.

Logistics Tech Firm FreightBro Launches App to Optimize Freight forwarding process

FreightBro has launched the first-ever freight forwarding application designed to optimize the freight forwarding process, save time and increase efficiency. The user-friendly app has features to discover global rates and schedules instantly, create instant quotes and monitor activity, accept bookings online, manage shipment life cycle and track cargo at a single touch of the screen.



The app delivers an unmatchable experience to customers, forwarders and can be downloaded via the App Store and Google Play.

FreightBro is a freight technology start-up aimed at revolutionizing the trillion-dollar forwarding industry through digitization of the manual processes of shipping. FreightBro aims to simplify the complexities of the logistics industry using technology to empower freight forwarders with a digital platform that can potentially increase their sales by 30% while reducing 70% of their quotation turnaround time and costs by 50%.

The company has successfully partnered with major shipping lines and logistics providers in India and China and have been growing expeditiously since inception. FreightBro enables freight forwarders to concentrate on their core competency and increase their customer base and sales as they take care of all the back end functions for them.

Founded in October 2016, FreightBro was started by Raghavendran Viswanathan (5+ years of previous work experience with Panalpina and DHL), Mohammed Zakkiria A (14+ years of experience having worked at DHL, Damco, Panalpina and Cargo Partner) and Anand V Babu (25+ years of experience working at AP Moller Maersk Group and APM Terminals). In May 2018, FreightBro raised seed round of funding from Suresh Kumar, former Global CIO of Bank of New York Mellon.

Logistics Tech Startup FreightBro Raises Seed Funding from Former CIO of of Bank of New York Mellon

Chennai-based logistics tech startup FreightBro has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round from Suresh Kumar, former global CIO of Bank of New York Mellon. With this funding, Kumar joins the company as an advisor. Kumar’s vast experience in running over 10,000 employees will be helpful for FreightBro’s wide expansion throughout the nation and world.

The funds raised will be used by the startup towards product development and expansion. The company is focusing on Chennai and Mumbai and will look at covering other port towns subsequently.

Founded in 2016 by Anand Babu, Raghavendran Viswanathan and Mohammed Zakkiria, FreightBro is a tech startup aiming to revolutionize the trillion-dollar international freight Industry. The startup leverages the power of technology, that enables freight forwarders to make data-driven decisions, predict changes in the market and provide better value to shippers.

It provides freight forwarders and 3PLs state of the art IT tools to maintain and enhance their process chain. One of its flagship products, InstaQuotes, is a SaaS (Software as a Service) platform that will enable forwarders to quote their procured rates in less than two mins and efficiently manage their buying and selling prices. The startup claims that, InstaQuotes has proven to decrease the cost of sales by 50% and improve operational efficiency in vendor rate management.

The startup has established partnerships with cargo shippers such as Maersk, Emirates, Safmarine, and ONE.

Speaking about the investor, Suresh Kumar, he had worked for several industries like online commerce, brokerage workstation platforms, outsourcing, and big data. With over 30 years of experience, he was once inducted into CIO Magazine’s Hall of Fame in 2016.

Welcoming Suresh to the FreightBro's board, Raghavendran Vishwanathan, CEO, FreightBro, says, “Suresh is a veteran of banking and financial services technologies. Over the past 30 years, he has led the financial services industry in online commerce, brokerage workstation platforms, outsourcing, big data, and most recently blockchain technology. With this strategic alliance and investment, FreightBro is moving forward to expand aggressively across all major and minor port cities of India by the end of 2018. I’m looking forward to advising the firm in their efforts to scale up and deploy the best of the emerging technologies to the shipping industry."

According to industry sources, the global logistics market is currently estimated to be around $3.5 trillion. India spends around 14.4 percent of its GDP on logistics and transportation compared to less than 8 percent by the other developing countries. India’s freight transport market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.35 percent by 2020. Cogoport has clocked an annual run rate of $10 million so far, with ocean freight accounting for 95% of it.

Last month, a plenty of logistics startup have had raised funds including Bengaluru-based Mojro, which raised $650K in a funding round led by 1Crowd and its investor community followed by $2 million funding of Chennai-based Pando, in a seed funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners.

In the same month, Mumbai-based online freight logistics startup Cogoport has raised about Rs. 40 crore in Series A funding round from private equity investor Accel Partners.

Source - Times of India | Top Image - Yourstory.com

Logistics Tech Startup FreightBro Raises Seed Funding from Former CIO of of Bank of New York Mellon

Chennai-based logistics tech startup FreightBro has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round from Suresh Kumar, former global CIO of Bank of New York Mellon. With this funding, Kumar joins the company as an advisor. Kumar’s vast experience in running over 10,000 employees will be helpful for FreightBro’s wide expansion throughout the nation and world.

The funds raised will be used by the startup towards product development and expansion. The company is focusing on Chennai and Mumbai and will look at covering other port towns subsequently.

Founded in 2016 by Anand Babu, Raghavendran Viswanathan and Mohammed Zakkiria, FreightBro is a tech startup aiming to revolutionize the trillion-dollar international freight Industry. The startup leverages the power of technology, that enables freight forwarders to make data-driven decisions, predict changes in the market and provide better value to shippers.

It provides freight forwarders and 3PLs state of the art IT tools to maintain and enhance their process chain. One of its flagship products, InstaQuotes, is a SaaS (Software as a Service) platform that will enable forwarders to quote their procured rates in less than two mins and efficiently manage their buying and selling prices. The startup claims that, InstaQuotes has proven to decrease the cost of sales by 50% and improve operational efficiency in vendor rate management.

The startup has established partnerships with cargo shippers such as Maersk, Emirates, Safmarine, and ONE.

Speaking about the investor, Suresh Kumar, he had worked for several industries like online commerce, brokerage workstation platforms, outsourcing, and big data. With over 30 years of experience, he was once inducted into CIO Magazine’s Hall of Fame in 2016.

Welcoming Suresh to the FreightBro's board, Raghavendran Vishwanathan, CEO, FreightBro, says, “Suresh is a veteran of banking and financial services technologies. Over the past 30 years, he has led the financial services industry in online commerce, brokerage workstation platforms, outsourcing, big data, and most recently blockchain technology. With this strategic alliance and investment, FreightBro is moving forward to expand aggressively across all major and minor port cities of India by the end of 2018. I’m looking forward to advising the firm in their efforts to scale up and deploy the best of the emerging technologies to the shipping industry."

According to industry sources, the global logistics market is currently estimated to be around $3.5 trillion. India spends around 14.4 percent of its GDP on logistics and transportation compared to less than 8 percent by the other developing countries. India’s freight transport market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.35 percent by 2020. Cogoport has clocked an annual run rate of $10 million so far, with ocean freight accounting for 95% of it.

Last month, a plenty of logistics startup have had raised funds including Bengaluru-based Mojro, which raised $650K in a funding round led by 1Crowd and its investor community followed by $2 million funding of Chennai-based Pando, in a seed funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners.

In the same month, Mumbai-based online freight logistics startup Cogoport has raised about Rs. 40 crore in Series A funding round from private equity investor Accel Partners.

Source - Times of India | Top Image - Yourstory.com