Tech Startup FourKites, Used by Coca-Cola and Walmart, Secures $100 Million in New Funding

By Adriaan Brits | Wednesday, 24 March 2021 | Startup, Tech

Real-time supply chain startup FourKites announced today it raised $100 million in Series D, taking the total funding raised to more than $200 million. The tech logistics startup says it will use the proceeds to invest in product development.

A worker in a hard hat holding a tablet and watching supply trucks.

A Superior Supply Chain Yields Higher Business Sales

According to the company’s press release, the logistics startup runs a network of more than 450,000 couriers and monitors more than 1 million shipments every day and 1 billion events monthly in 176 countries. The startup collaborates with several major names, including Coca-Cola, AB InBev, and Walmart.

In the retail sector, data shows that inventory accuracy stands at just 63% of the time, on an average basis. That’s why business stakeholders that have increased visibility into their supply chain are much more likely to outshine rivals.

According to Deloitte, 79% of companies with a superior supply chain make larger business revenues than their competitors, while only 8% of the organizations with a lower performing supply chain have above-average business revenue growth. That’s where logistics startups like FourKites come into the picture as 96% of participants in Deloitte’s survey identify innovation as "extremely important" to growth.

The startup’s platform offers a real-time view of supply chain and carrier performance for shipments, including solutions that allow businesses to handle exceptions before they happen. When it comes to planning and procurement, users are provided with insights for store operations, such as product availability and labor planning, as well as monitoring in-transit and in-year freight.

“FourKites primarily uses data science in service of improving supply chain performance. Predicting estimated time to arrival is the bread and butter of this industry because that drives a lot of decision-making,” said CEO of the company Matt Elenjickal.

For instance, the tech logistics startup tracked more than 3 million less-than-truckload international shipments. Using its logistics dataset and the machine-learning tools, the company reviewed more than 3 million loads, 3.2 billion, less-than-truckload miles, and over 1.3 trillion data points to create the first dynamic estimated time to arrival model for less-than-truckload shipments.

“Models are trained on roughly 2 million shipments spanning trucks, trains, air, rail, and water shipments across the countries being tracked on our platform at any given time. They’re tuned to be sensitive to shipper, warehouse, lane, and carrier behavior,” added Elenjickal.

Nearly two years ago, the logistics company introduced its forum named “FourKites Community,” where customers can get in touch with other shippers and third-party logistics firms under the FourKites network.

The company intends to reach $100 million in business revenues over the next two years. Elenjickal also added that FourKites plans to expand its reach and customer success teams, especially in regions like Europe, Asia-Pacific, and India.

Summary

The supply chain visibility startup FourKites has secured $100 million in a new financing round, taking its total funding raised to more than $200 million. The company said it intends to use the new capital to invest in business product development.


About the Author

Headshot for author Adriaan Brits
As an analyst of global affairs, Adriaan has an MSC from Oxford, with diverse interests in the digital economy, entertainment, and business. He is a specialist trainer in Advanced Analytics & Media.

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