NEWS FLASH: Flexport gains $65m for global expansion

The San Francisco-based freight forwarder, which has now raised a total of $94 million to fund global expansion, said it is constructing a new operating system for global trade that will unite the world in a seamless web of commerce.    The cloud-based freight forwarder Flexport has raised a Series B round of $65 million to fund its global expansion, bringing its total capital raised to $94 million, the company said Monday.
   Flexport, which uses only modern technology, said its mission “is to fix the user experience in global trade.”
   Flexport said, “We live in an increasingly connected world, and yet it’s still too hard to ship products across international borders. To fix that, we’re building a new operating system for global trade that will unite the world in a seamless web of commerce.”
   Almost all of the new funding came from Flexport’s investors including Founders Fund, Bloomberg Beta, Felicis Ventures, First Round Capital, Susa Ventures, Yuri Milner and others. They are joined by a new investor, Joe Lonsdale, who is a founding partner at 8VC.
   The funding will help hire and retain more employees and will facilitate the company’s rapid international expansion.
   Flexport, which has been a global company since day one, has employees who speak over 35 languages, and in 2016, the company opened offices in Amsterdam, New York and Hong Kong.
   Flexport is one of the four companies profiled in American Shipper’s October magazine issue for presenting a unique approach to technology application in ocean freight.