cargo.one, the German digital booking platform for air cargo, announced closing a $42 million Series B round six months after it had raised $18 million investment. This time the round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, and joined by existing investors Index Ventures, Creandum, Point Nine and Next47.
cargo.one is “Skyscanner for cargo”, as the managing director Moritz Claussen explained. The company develops an online system that allows shipping firms to book air freights. The platform provides access to real-time prices and available capacities of multiple airlines, allowing them to compare and book capacities across airlines into their systems directly.
According to Claussen, the Covid-19 crisis contributed to cargo.one’s services demand because of the surge in online shopping: “Between 2019 and 2020, we increased our user base by 300% with 2,000 freight-forwarding offices now using the platform in Europe,” commented Claussen. “In that time bookings have grown by more than 700%.”
To date, the company has 15 airline partners, including Lufthansa Cargo, Finnair Cargo, Etihad Cargo and All Nippon Airways Cargo.
cargo.one will allocate the fresh funding in growing the user base of freight forwarders globally and deepen the expansion into North America and Asia, managing director Oliver T. Neumann said. Besides, as cargo.one has added option to transport the temperature-sensitive products, the company is planning to provide its services for the COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
