Funding fuels expansion for Nuvocargo, KlearNow

Logistics industry tech platforms continue to attract investor attention as demand for logistics services intensifies, with recent announcements from startups Nuvocargo and KlearNow.

Nuvocargo, a digital platform that supports U.S./Mexico trade, said Friday it raised an additional $20.5 million, led by Tiger Global Management. The company has raised $37.8 million in funding since its launch in late 2019, and is now valued at $180 million, triple the value from its earlier funding round in April, company leaders said.

Nuvocargo said it will use the funds to accelerate growth, expand its product solutions, and strengthen its carrier and shipper network on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border. The company is based in New York City and Mexico City and has 80 employees, with plans to expand to more than 200 employees in both countries in 2022.

The startup also announced the launch of the first in a series of financial products: QuickPay for carriers, a cash advance product for the truckers in Nuvocargo’s marketplace.

“We’ve been in a small private beta [test] for a couple of months and the adoption has been extremely exciting; QuickPay for carriers has been growing processing volumes by 35% weekly and recently crossed seven figures in annualized transaction volume in just a few short weeks since launch,” according to the platform’s Founder and CEO, Deepak Chhugani.

More than 10% of Nuvocargo’s carriers are already using QuickPay weekly, the company said.

Separately, logistics-as-a-service (LaaS) platform KlearNow said Monday it raised $50 million in series B funding, led by Kayne Partners Fund, the growth private equity group of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisor. The U.S.-based company raised $16 million in series A funding in January 2020, and has since grown its customer base, expanded into Canada, and launched a United Kingdom service to support UK and EU businesses post-Brexit.

KlearNow is an on-demand customs clearance platform that connects importers, freight forwarders, and customs brokers for logistics services. In addition to its customs clearance marketplace, the firm also recently added a drayage marketplace to its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform.

Company leaders said the firm will use the latest funding round to speed tech development and deployment, expand geographically, and hire more talent.

“This latest round of funding enables us to aggressively accelerate our technology development and deployment, geographical expansion, and talent investments, helping us transform supply chains that power commerce,” according to Sam Tyagi, KlearNow founder and CEO. “We are excited to have strategic partners and investors with deep knowledge in this space, and we believe that with their support, our technology can lead to a meaningful, sustainable impact on global supply chains.”