Xeneta secures second funding round

The Oslo, Norway-based freight rate benchmarking platform secured $12 million in a Series B investment round to expand sales and product development.    The Norway-based ocean freight rate benchmarking platform Xeneta said Thursday it has raised $12 million in a Series B investment round led by London-based Smedvig Capital.
   Existing investors Creandum and Alliance Venture also participated in the funding round.
   Using a crowdsourcing model, Xeneta allows ocean freight buyers to compare their contract rates anonymously against other contract rates by lane and carrier. The company said the new financing will be used to fund its global expansion and to strengthen product development and its technology platform.
   “We were looking for a (venture capital group) who shared our strategic long-term outlook,” said Patrik Berglund, chief executive officer and co-founder at Xeneta. “Shipping is not a fast-paced industry and Smedvig’s extended investment perspective plays very well with our strategy, making them an ideal investment partner.
   “We are excited to be backing and working with Patrik, Thomas and their team to continue their impressive growth,” said Rob Toms, a managing director at Smedvig Capital. “The business has already had a major impact in the $200 billion dollar plus container shipping market, and we are confident that Xeneta will continue to drive change in the ocean freight and related markets.”
   Thomas Sørbø, Xeneta’s chief business development officer and co-founder, said Smedvig’s founding roots in the shipping industry was appealing, as was their experience in helping companies scale enterprise technology businesses in traditional industries.
   Xeneta has positioned itself as the leading container pricing platform and challenged the status quo of the traditional volatile shipping industry. By digitizing the crowdsourcing of ocean container prices, it has created the most complete global container pricing index bringing pricing transparency to all stakeholders in international container trade.
   Founded in 2012, Xeneta has grown in its database of contracted shipping rates from 2 million in 2015 to more than 23 million in 2017. The company said its revenue has increased 200 percent over the last year.
   Customers include Kraft Heinz, Electrolux, Continental, Thyssenkrupp, Akzo Nobel, Brother International, as well as major suppliers in the automotive, chemical and retail industries. The company has offices in Oslo, Hamburg and is establishing a presence on the U.S. east coast. The new funding round brings the total raised by Xeneta since 2012 to $20.5 million.
   American Shipper profiled Xeneta for the cover story in its October issue.