Freight forwarder Flexport took part in a $115m series B round for US-based trucking efficiency software provider CloudTrucks yesterday valuing it at $850m.
Investment firm Tiger Global Management led the round, which included venture capital firm Menlo Ventures in addition to Michael Ovitz, founder of talent agency CAA, and Eric Wu, chief executive of online real estate portal Opendoor.
CloudTrucks provides artificial intelligence-equipped tools covering areas like schedule optimisation, rapid payment and paperwork automation to help trucking businesses run more efficiently.
The company also offers lower-cost insurance and assistance with truck leasing, and will spend the cash on technology development, hiring and expanding integration with shippers and brokers.
Tobenna Arodiogbu, CloudTrucks’ co-founder and CEO, said: “Nearly every sector of the economy relies on drivers to transport its goods and we are eager to use this latest round of funding to continue optimising the trucking business – especially as our country needs new truck drivers more than ever.
“We have seen the number of loads completed on our platform grow eight-times since last year, and we recognise the importance of providing a complete business-in-a-box solution for drivers to make the most of every run.”
Craft Ventures led the startup’s $6.1m seed round in 2020, participating alongside Khosla Ventures, Kindred Ventures and Abstract Ventures. All four returned in December for a $20.5m series A round led by Caffeinated Capital and also backed by Better Tomorrow Ventures.
