Globe’s Expedock raises $17.5-M funding to modernize freight forwarding

GLOBE Telecom, Inc. announced on Thursday that Expedock, the automation unit of its wholly owned corporate venture capital firm Kickstart Ventures, Inc., has raised $17.5 million for the modernization of its freight forwarding process.

The amount consists of $13.5 million in Series A funding and $4-million seed money, according to an e-mailed statement from Globe.

This is intended for the “expansion of Expedock’s team so that supply chain businesses could further understand their data more efficiently at scale,” the company added.

“Having the right automation partner will drive efficiency and profitability, reduce labor costs and help the industry keep up with today’s global shipper,” it noted.

Expedock is an “innovator” in the international freight software industry. It uses artificial intelligence to digitize paper documents, classify them, and import them into existing freight forwarder tools.

For the company, automating bills and statements of account ensures on-time payment and accurate visibility to margins, allowing supply chain professionals to focus on moving items.

“The funding round was led by global software investor Insight Partners, with participation from existing investors Neo and Pear and executives from Salesforce, Meta, eBay, Clearmetal, and Project44, among others,” Globe noted.

Kickstart President Minette Navarrete said that the global health crisis and ongoing geopolitical conflict are causing problems in the global supply chain.

“Expedock helps alleviate the problem by transforming paper forms into usable digital data, reducing the risk of error, and improving performance across the supply chain ecosystem,” she said. — Arjay L. Balinbin