Telecommunications firm SoftBank’s Vision Fund led a $1bn round for US-based online shipping platform Flexport yesterday that valued it at $3.2bn, a source with knowledge of the terms told Forbes.
Logistics service provider SF Express also participated in the round along with investment firm DST Global and venture capital firms Founders Fund, Cherubic Ventures and Susa Ventures.
Flexport’s business focuses on what it calls an Operating System for Global Trade, a cloud-based platform where clients can book shipping through air, sea, land or rail, and which incorporates real-time tracking and analytics.
The funding will be used to increase headcount, with a particular focus on engineers and experts in local markets, Flexport chief executive Ryan Petersen told Forbes. Additional capital will support the growth of its warehouse facilities as well as a possible expansion in its air fleet.
The company also plans to invest in services such as its inventory loan service, Flexport Capital, and to possibly introduce new features that could include a big data tool that can predict business using customers’ shipping activities.
Michael Rosen, a managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, which runs Vision Fund, will take a board seat at Flexport. He told Forbes the investment could feed into other Vision Fund portfolio companies covering areas such as driverless cars and robotics.
The round boosted Flexport’s total funding to approximately $1.3bn and comes 10 months after SF Express invested $100m in the company.
Flexport had secured $110m in a late 2017 series C round led by DST Global and backed by Founders Fund, Susa Ventures and financial services firm Wells Fargo’s Strategic Capital unit, at a $910m valuation.
Media company Bloomberg’s corporate venturing unit, Bloomberg Beta, is also an investor, having joined Founders Fund, Susa Ventures, Felicis Ventures, First Round, Yuri Milner and Joe Lonsdale to provide $65m for Flexport in a 2016 series B round that valued it at more than $300m.
Bloomberg Beta and GV, a subsidiary of internet technology group Alphabet, both took part in Flexport’s $20m series A round in 2015, investing alongside Susa Ventures, Founders Fund, Cherubic Ventures, First Round, A-Grade Investments, Fuel Capital, Funders Club, Felicis Ventures, Y Combinator, Ceyuan Ventures and Fenway Summer Ventures.
The company had received $6.9m in seed capital from GV, Bloomberg Beta, Susa Ventures, Cherubic Ventures, First Round Capital, Funders Club, A-Grade, SV Angel, Tylt Lab, Acqequia Capital, Box Group, Fuel Capital, Hydrazine Capital, Inside Capital, Kindling Capital, Lunch Van Fund, Winklevoss Capital and Y Combinator earlier the same year.
