Digital freight forwarding company OnePort 365 grabbed $5 million in seed funding that it will use to improve its efficiency and lower its overhead on cross-border trading across Africa and deliver new services to increase profitability, according to a Tech Funding News report Thursday (April 28).
Mobility 54 (the Venture Capital arm of Toyota Tsusho and CFAO Group) led OnePort 365’s funding effort, with participation from SBI Investment, Flexport, ODX and other strategic angel investors as well as existing investor Samurai Incubate.
OnePort 365, which is focused on the end-to-end digitization of freight management, is active in Nigeria and Ghana and plans to expand into new markets across the region.
“We are super excited to have these investors onboard to support our mission to optimize cross-border trading across the continent,” said Hio Sola-Usidame, CEO and founder of OnePort 365, in the report. “With new regulations like the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement creating the potential for a new era of trade on the continent, we want to make it easier for traders to maximize the opportunity.
“We believe managing freights should be as easy as booking a flight or ordering a ride-hailing service and we are building the operating system to make this possible,” he said.
Related: New Funding Values Digital Freight Firm Convoy at $3.8B
Earlier this month, digital freight firm Convoy has raised $260 million in new funding, bringing the value of the Seattle-based company to $3.8 billion.
The capital came in the form of a $160 million Series E preferred equity and a $100 million venture-debt investment from Hercules Capital, according to the release. The Series E was led by Baillie Gifford, with funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, along with several new and returning investors.
Convoy also secured a $150 million line of credit from JP Morgan. The platform applies machine learning models to more efficiently match carriers to loads and connects shippers and freight brokers to a national network of 400,000 trucks through its platform and smartphone app.
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