FLEXPORT SECURES US$100M FUNDING FROM SF EXPRESS

Trade and logistics platform Flexport has secured US$100 million in funding from Chinese courier company SF Express.

 

According to Flexport, the strategic partnership will allow it to expand its operations in Asia and around the world.

 

Flexport has already received funding from investors such as First Round Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Founders Fund, DST and Y Combinator.

 

“Our mission is to make global trade easy for everyone,” said Ryan Petersen, founder and CEO of Flexport. “The investment by SF Express, one of the world’s top couriers, will let us create more value for businesses shipping freight internationally.”

 

Flexport offers logistics services including air freight, ocean freight, trucking, cargo insurance and customs brokerage. The company plans to focus on technology so it can continue to reduce transaction costs, improve the user experience and empower supply chain managers to make more data-driven decisions.

 

“Ensuring constant improvement of customer experience has always been the focus of our business,” said Henry Ko, managing director of Asia at Flexport. “With funding from SF Express, we will be able to invest more on improving our end-to-end service offerings and operations, and drive better customer experience in Asia and beyond.”

 

Earlier this year, Flexport launched its own private Boeing 747F flight, operated twice a week from Hong Kong to Los Angeles carrying customers’ cargo. The company expects to double its warehousing footprint and open new offices in Hamburg, Chicago, Taiwan and Shanghai later this year.

 

Within the past five years, Flexport has grown to become a major digital freight forwarder which helps more than 15,000 companies deliver their goods to customers worldwide. It shipped US$3.8 billion worth of merchandise between 97 countries in 2017, serving both small and medium-sized businesses and multinational enterprises.