Cargomatic announces closing of $35 billion in Series B financing round

Cargomatic, a Long Beach, Calif.-based company with proprietary technology that connects shippers and carriers through an app-based interface with a focus on first and last mile transportation and a proprietary marketplace, announced yesterday it has closed a $35 billion Series B financing round, which was led by private equity firm Warburg Pincus, as well as Canaan, Genesee & Wyoming, Xplorer Capital, and Muse Family Enterprises.

Cargomatic said that this round of funding will go towards geographic expansion plans, in addition to hiring employees as the company continues to grow.

“Local trucking is a $70 billion industry in the U.S., and small-fleet trucking companies handle 80 percent of deliveries in metropolitan markets. Cargomatic is revolutionizing the current trucking transportation logistics space by addressing its largest pain points through a unique combination of deep mobile and enterprise technology and the robust logistics support necessary for managing the intricacies of shorthaul trucking,” said Richard Gerstein, CEO of Cargomatic. “We are pleased to have the support of Warburg Pincus, whose extensive experience in logistics and technology-based logistics businesses will be pivotal as we embark on Cargomatic’s next chapter, and work to bring our solutions to more customers around the world.”

Cargomatic was established in 2013, and focuses on the shorthaul and drayage sectors via its mobile app, which connects shippers, receivers, and carriers and takes out the volume of calls, e-mails, and faxes typically used when booking transactions, according to company officials. And they added that its technology provides customers with a way to track real-time information and quickly access, or list, untapped trucking capacity, boost service levels that include pick up time and delivery rates, and also manage outsourced vendors in the same platform.

The company is based in Long Beach and also has offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Florida, Seattle, Dallas, Houston, and New York, with thousands of trading partners, including shippers, manufacturers, retailers, and 3PLs, on its platform.

A report in the Wall Street Journal stated that this round of funding follows a “a rocky startup period when the business burned through cash and coped with a flurry of employee departures.”

And it added that since that time the company has brought on new leadership, upgraded its technology and focused on landing large customers with a steady flow of freight, according to Cargomatic, with Gerstein saying the company is now handling roughly 8-to-ten times the volume it was previously doing.