Cargo.one raises $18.6m as it looks to triple in size

Digital booking platform cargo.one has raised $18.6m in venture funding in its Series A round to help it achieve significant expansion by the end of this year.

Cargo.one said it will use the funding to onboard new airlines, grow in new markets, hire 70 employees and ultimately triple in size.

“In the next phase of its growth, cargo.one will expand to North America and East Asia, to fulfill airlines’ desire to be able to sell [cargo capacity] globally though cargo.one and serve freight forwarders around the world,” the company said in a statement. “It will also build tools that use data to let airlines offer more dynamic pricing, engage in better route planning and predict demand in volatile markets.”

Cargo.one’s Series A round was led by venture capital firm Index Ventures, with the participation of Next47 and previous backers Creandum, Lufthansa Cargo and Point Nine Capital.

They were joined by angel investors including Tom Stafford of DST Global and Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas, chief operating officer of GoCardless and former chief product officer of Skyscanner.

Martin Mignot, partner at Index Ventures, commented: “Cargo.one has formed close partnerships with major global airlines, who have subsequently seen their cargo business expand significantly.

“Conversations with dozens of other airlines in the Americas and Asia show the clear need for a simple booking engine for air cargo, and early signs of the far-reaching impact it will have on the airline industry and businesses around the world who rely on it to serve their customers.”

Oliver Neumann, co-founder and managing director of cargo.one, added: “The new era of air cargo is being driven by universal access to real-time data. It’s essential that the industry has access to tools that allow players to both respond and anticipate market dynamics.

“From day one, cargo.one has provided freight forwarders with an outstanding user experience and access to real-time data. We now plan to accelerate the release of major product additions that will increase the connectivity between freight forwarders and airlines, and empower them to work more effectively together.”

To date, cargo.one has partnerships with 12 airlines including AirBridgeCargo, All Nippon Airways, Finnair, Etihad, Lufthansa and TAP Air Portugal. It also serves more than 1,500 freight forwarding offices.

From January to June 2020, cargo.one saw the number of air cargo search requests by freight forwarders quadruple. “The number of quotes distributed in that time increased by two thirds, while in June, cargo.one made more than 1.1m bookable airfreight offers available to freight forwarders,” the company said.