Freight marketplace Cogoport secures Rs 40 Cr Series A round from Accel Partners

Online freight aggregator Cogoport has secured Series A round of funding led by venture capital firm Accel Partners.

Following the investment, Accel has added one more logistics startup in its portfolio. Earlier, it has acquired stakes in two other similar startups Blackbuck and Fortigo.

The fresh proceeds will be deployed towards developing new products and business growth by expanding globally and increase its footprint in the domestic market. Cogoport didn’t disclose the amount of funding, it secured. Though, according to close sources, the amount is said to be close to Rs 40 crore ($6.2 million).

Founded in 2016 by Shekhar Purnendu, Harsh Kumar, and Kunal Rathod, Cogoport is an aggregator of freight services using technology to make a cost-effective tie-up between exporters and importers on one hand and ocean and air freight carriers on the other. It also allows customers to compare rates and book shipment as well as track it online.

The company also offers door-to-door services by way of price comparisons for trucking, customs charges and inland docking charges from the same platform.

Currently, the platform has branches in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Rajkot, Gurugram and Hong Kong. Recently it expanded its operations in Netherlands.

Cogoport claims to have received over 12,415 inquiries from over 3000 clients through its online platform. It has also 49,806 port pairs onboard.

India’s freight transport market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.35 percent by 2020. Cogoport has clocked an annual run rate of $10 million so far, with ocean freight accounting for 95 percent of it.

In an earlier interview with Entrackr Purnendu had said that Cogoport wants to achieve scale and trigger revenue streams which will be largely from our suppliers’ commission, a commission from banks and other financial institutions and keep evaluating opportunities in international geographies.

The company competes with Rivigo, Blackbuck, Fortigo, Flexport, Freightos, and Xeneta amongst others.

Last year, Cogoport raised Rs 5 crore from an unnamed high net worth individual.