Nowports, a Mexico-based digital freight forwarder, announced it has raised $16 million in Series A funding.
The capital will allow Nowports to continue digitizing supply chain services from Asia and the United States to ports across Latin America, company officials said.
“This investment allows us to continue strengthening our position in the region, not only in Mexico but in the four countries where we already have our own offices, as well as expanding our team in China,” Alfonso de los Rios, co-founder and CEO at Nowports, said in a statement.
Funding details: Nowports
| Funding amount | $16 million |
| Funding round | Series A |
| Lead investor | Mouro Capital |
| Secondary investors | Foundation Capital, Broadhaven Ventures, Monashees, Base 10 Partners, Y Combinator |
| Business goals | Solidify important trade routes, expand logistics and financial services from Asia to the Americas |
| Total funding | $24 million |
The Monterrey, Mexico-based company has secured $24 million since launching in 2018 and has established offices in Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay. Nowports recently began operating in China.
“Our mission goes beyond shipping cargo. We already automate insurance policies and provide financing to our clients,” de los Rios said. “We allow our clients to import and export more, which helps them grow their businesses and improves the foreign trade conditions of the region.”
About 54 million containers are imported and exported from Latin America each year, and nearly half of them are either delayed or lost due to mismanagement or weather-related events, the company said.
Nowports’ digital platform wants to provide shippers with tools to track their cargo, centralize their shipment history and quickly access financial information.
Nowports’ Series A investment round was led by Mouro Capital. Foundation Capital and active investors Broadhaven Ventures, Monashees, Base10 Partners and Y Combinator also participated.
“Nowports’ platform brings transparency and technology to a global client base and we look forward to working with the team to accelerate its growth trajectory,” Chris Gottschalk, senior adviser at Mouro Capital, said in a statement.
Nowports was founded by de los Rios and Maximiliano Casal, who met at a program at Stanford University. Today, the company has 142 employees and saw its 2020 revenue climb by 605% compared to 2019, the company said.
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