Traxens, a France-based provider of internet-enabled shipping container monitoring systems, completed a €20m ($22.4m) series C round yesterday with the backing of trading conglomerate Itochu Corporation.
The round was led by government-owned investment bank Bpifrance and also featured fund manager Supernova Invest’s Crédit Agricole Innovations et Territoires Fund, which is backed by financial services group Crédit Agricole.
Founded in 2012, Traxens provides data monitoring services to the shipping container transport industry using its internet-of-things (IoT)-enabled tracking technology. The platform provides geolocation and temperature of cargo in transit, and offers estimated times of arrival.
Traxens aims to have fitted 100,000 shipping containers with its technology by the end of 2020, and will put some of the series C capital towards achieving this goal. The cash will also support business growth in existing and new markets.
Shipping, transport and energy group AP Moller – Maersk became a shareholder in Traxens in June 2019, in a deal that committed the corporate to purchasing 50,000 Traxens systems for its containers.
Traxens secured $1.7m from regional development fund Tertium in 2015. It has not disclosed any other funding details.