Freight tech VC-backed Zuum files for chapter 11 protection

Other trucking/logistics bankruptcies in last two weeks heavily weighted toward small carriers

Zuum has filed for Chapter 11 protection. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves
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Key Takeaways:

  • Freight tech startup Zuum, which began operating in 2021, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
  • The company listed both assets and liabilities in the range of $10 million to $50 million.
  • A majority of Zuum's top 20 unsecured creditors are freight brokers, alongside one tech service provider.
  • Zuum offered various logistics services, including a TMS for shippers and carriers, broker software, and a driver app, as part of its "Logistics Super Platform."
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The growing list of bankruptcies in trucking has caught up a significant new participant from the freight tech part of the business: Zuum .

The startup that has been operating since 2021 filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Federal Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California Thursday. Zuum is based in Irvine, California. 

Zuum’s bankruptcy petition with the court listed assets of $10 million to $50 million and liabilities of the same amount.

The company’s top 20 unsecured creditors lists brokers for 19 of the 20 slots. The largest is Metropolitan Logistics of Shelby, Michigan with an unsecured claim of $303,867. The smallest among the 20 is Ra Logistics of Sterling Heights, Michigan, with an unsecured claim of $139,650. 

The one non-broker in the top 20 is Accion Labs Us Inc. of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania. Its unsecured claim is $421,635. That company lists several services it provides, including cloud and platform engineering, as well as data and AI solutions. 

ZUUM offers multiple services: a TMS for both shippers and carriers, software for brokers and an app for drivers that connects with its primary product, the Logistics Super Platform. 

“These tools enable customers to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their logistics operations while automating their transportation networks,” the company says of its offerings on its website. “Our vision is to optimize logistics and streamline supply chains globally by defragmenting the industry.”

Emails sent to Zuum’s portal and to the Zuum attorney listed on bankruptcy documents filed with the court had not been responded to by publication time. 

According to the company’s website, Zuum’s latest two financing rounds were $12.58 million in October 2021, and $22 million in February. Its co-founder and CEO is Mustafa Azizi. 

A trip through the PACER system of other logistics-related bankruptcy filings from the last two weeks mostly reveals small carriers who have filed for protection: Supra Transport of Springboro, Ohio, with 2 power units; Burton Transport of Kansas City with one power unit; CDR Trans of Myrtle Beach, SC, with two power units; and Hadnot Logistics of Rockwall, Texas, with 2 power units.

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John Kingston

John has an almost 40-year career covering commodities, most of the time at S&P Global Platts. He created the Dated Brent benchmark, now the world’s most important crude oil marker. He was Director of Oil, Director of News, the editor in chief of Platts Oilgram News and the “talking head” for Platts on numerous media outlets, including CNBC, Fox Business and Canada’s BNN. He covered metals before joining Platts and then spent a year running Platts’ metals business as well. He was awarded the International Association of Energy Economics Award for Excellence in Written Journalism in 2015. In 2010, he won two Corporate Achievement Awards from McGraw-Hill, an extremely rare accomplishment, one for steering coverage of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster and the other for the launch of a public affairs television show, Platts Energy Week.