project44 announces acquisition of ClearMetal

Chicago-based project44, a technology services provider offering standardized, secure Web service API (application programming interfaces) integrations enabling 3PLs and shippers to connect with carriers in real time, announced today that is acquiring San Francisco-based Clear Metal, a provider of international supply chain visibility and predictive analytics for enterprises.

A purchase price was not disclosed.

Established in 2014, ClearMetal builds intelligent SaaS to help companies move freight efficiently and with superior customer experience, according to its web site. And project44 noted that the company’s patented artificial intelligence enables shippers to optimize their supply chains and also provide customers with easy access to trusted, live information regarding orders and shipments.

“Project44 has the broadest and deepest visibility network in the world, across all transportation modes,” said Jett McCandless, CEO, project44, in a statement. ” With the addition of ClearMetal’s advanced AI technology, we’re building on a strong foundation and extending capabilities to deliver more accurate, predictable ETAs and visibility into customer orders and inventory in transit.”

A project44 spokesman told LM that this acquisition was made to ensure that project44 customers have the most sophisticated network platform on the market.

“This means delivering the most advanced visibility, exception management, collaboration, and automated processes across transportation and logistics ecosystems,” he said. “By acquiring ClearMetal’s team, and patented AI and machine learning, we will continue to strengthen our platform using data science & AI, delivering the potential of this technology across the transportation and logistics sector. ClearMetal has also created powerful tools for deepened visibility to the order/line-item level, and their acquisition allows us to extend our network to upstream suppliers, which means more visibility and control.”

As for shipper benefits, he said that this acquisition puts the most advanced software onto what he described as the most powerful platform in supply chain visibility.

“For starters, it puts the most powerful data science on the market into customers hands, and enables best data quality and better multi-modal ETAs,” he said. “For customers, this translates into higher personnel productivity, dynamic exception management to avoid disruptions, lower extraneous costs (like demurrage), and improved capacity and throughput (by optimizing free times). This also provides project44’s customers with order-level visibility. This means granularity and context to enable tracking at the purchase order, sales order, and stock transfer order level. For customers, this means increased revenue through better management of inventory in transit, enhanced collaboration across global logistics teams and LSPs, and improved customer experience through greater transparency.”

When asked what the acquisition of ClearMetal provides for project44 that was missing, or needed, the spokesman said that this acquisition puts one of the most qualified data science teams in the logistics space to work at the company with the best ability to execute and transform supply chain visibility in the years ahead.  

“It ensures that project44 is running on the most advanced/patented AI and machine learning possible,” he said. “It also means order-level capabilities, thanks to ClearMetal’s powerful advanced inventory visibility, which extends down to the line-item level.

And as for competitive benefits, he said that Project44 was also named a leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Real-Time Transportation Visibility based on its effective marketing execution, sales execution and pricing, and customer experience.

“In other words, we’ve got an incredible amount of momentum behind us, we’ve got the network, the team, and the vision,” he said. “This acquisition drives all of the tools that we have built forward using the most advanced AI and machine learning in our sector. There’s a remarkable synergy here, and project44 is in the perfect position to capitalize on that to help our customers run strong, reliable, efficient supply chains.”