Nowports, the Mexico-based digital freight forwarder became a unicorn this week, with a reported $1.1bn valuation — at a time when valuations are undergoing a correction in major VC markets across the globe. The company’s $150m series C fundraise underscores the ongoing importance of supply chain and logistical challenges.
Plenty of corporates were keen to hop on board the funding round, which was led by SoftBank’s Latin America Fund, with internet technology group Tencent and Mouro Capital, the VC firm sponsored by financial services firm Santander, taking part. Other investors included Tiger Global, Foundation Capital, Monashees, Soma Capital, Broadhaven Ventures, Base10 Partners and private investors Daniel Voguel, Ricardo Amper, Alex Bouaziz and Roger Laughlin.
Founded in 2018, Nowports has developed a digital freight platform that offers real-time tracking and books import or export cargo. The company claims to provide a blend of technology and supply chain, enabling businesses to transport freight anywhere, at any time, in a convenient and affordable manner.
Nowports is one of a growing number of unicorn startups in Latin America — and the second logistics company in the region to get big backing from Softbank. Brazil-based “logistics-as-a-service” platform Loggi has raised millions of dollars at unicorn valuations from SoftBank and other corporate investors like Qualcomm.
According to data by Contxto, as of early 2022, there were 44 companies based in Latin America to have reached the $1bn mark in valuation. Seven of those were headquartered in Mexico, primarily from the fintech (Bitso, Clara, Clip, Konfío) and e-commerce space (Kavak, Merama).
Nowports is part of a growing appetite for logistics and supply chain management tech from corporate venture investors. The number of corporate-backed rounds in this area ramped up considerably in 2020 (88) and 2021 (116), as shown in the chart below, drawn from GCV’s data.
The total estimated capital deployed also reached a record high last year, standing at just north of $10bn. Venture investors were already seeing the importance of the space as the covid-19 pandemic and problems associated with it were taking place. Given that these issues have not been resolved yet to this date, it is probably one area that may not see as much correction in valuations going forward.
