Unicorn

Terra Worldwide reaches $1B in trailing revenue amid talk of sale

Terra Worldwide Logistics announced Tuesday that three years after its founding, the supply chain solutions company has eclipsed $1 billion in trailing 12-month revenue.

“Terra is the largest transportation solutions company … that you’ve probably never heard of,” said Jim Briles, founder and chief operating officer, after the company documented triple-digit year-over-year growth since 2019. “Our focus has always been on our customers and solving their needs. That’s what got us here and will...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/terra-worldwide-reaches-1b-in-trailing-revenue-amid-talk-of-sale

Nowports hits unicorn status at $1B valuation with new funding

Digital freight forwarder Nowports announced Tuesday it has secured $150 million in a funding round led by Softbank Latin America Fund.

The series C round has landed the company a $1.1 billion valuation, helping Nowports become one of the most valuable companies in Mexico.

“We are excited to earn the trust of large investment funds and join the short list of unicorns in Latin America,” Alfonso de los Ríos, co-founder and CEO of Nowports, said in a statement. “This enhances our commitment to...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/nowports-hits-unicorn-status-at-1b-valuation

Softbank backs headless commerce unicorn fabric

Faisal Masud has said that the term “headless commerce” is really not an accurate representation of what his company, fabric, provides for commerce. 

“The traditional monolithic business platforms (Oracle, SAP, etc.) are where a big box [retailer] holds many smaller boxes inside of it. So if one box broke, you broke the [entire thing],” he explained to Modern Shipper last year.

Instead, Masud likes to call his company’s approach “composable commerce” – the business logic remains separate,...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/softbank-backs-headless-commerce-unicorn-fabric

Data capture firm Scandit raises $150M, reaches unicorn status

Scandit raises $150 million in Series D

As e-commerce, and specifically fulfillment operations, have ramped up, accurate inventory tracking, contactless shopping experiences, asset tracking and even general store operations have lagged due to a lack of technology.

Scandit has marketed its smart data capture products as a solution to this widening gap, giving retailers and other businesses, including last-mile delivery firms and warehouse fulfillment providers, access to mission-critical data that goes beyond what legacy scanning...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/data-capture-firm-scandit-raises-150m-reaches-unicorn-status

Loadsmart becomes FreightTech’s next unicorn at $1.3B valuation with SoftBank investment

On-demand freight marketplace Loadsmart announced Tuesday it has closed a $200 million series D round led by SoftBank Group’s Latin America Fund with participation from rail transportation company CSX Corp., asset manager Janus Henderson Group and its existing investor, BlackRock Inc.

The Chicago-based company’s series D round has landed the freight marketplace a $1.3 billion valuation, almost three times its valuation after closing its series C in November, showcasing the desirability of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/loadsmart-becomes-freighttechs-next-unicorn-at-13b-valuation-with-softbank-investment

Why logistics’ latest unicorn is ready to break the $10B barrier

Fabric achieved logistics unicorn status, but it's not stopping there

Retail is in the midst of a metamorphosis. 

The role of the physical store is changing as consumers explore options other than in-store shopping –– according to the National Retail Federation, more than half of retailers currently offer or plan to offer a ship-from-store option, and another two-thirds currently offer or plan to offer buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS). And then there’s e-commerce, which now accounts for about 15% of all retail sales.

Increasingly, companies are spending less...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/why-logistics-latest-unicorn-is-ready-to-break-the-10b-barrier

Misfits Market creates 4 more oases in US food deserts

Misfits Market now offering online grocery delivery in Arizona, New Mexico, Nebraska, Oklahoma

Food deserts are areas of the country where residents have little or no access to affordable and healthy foods. Despite COVID-19 accelerating the fight against food insecurity, nearly 20 million Americans still live in these regions. For these people, prospects are slim for major grocers that sell everything you need for cheap — the Walmarts, the Krogers and the like.

Many who live in food deserts don’t have the resources to travel to stores with affordable or nutritious grocery options, so one...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/misfits-market-creates-4-more-oases-in-us-food-deserts

Shippo reaches unicorn status with $50M raise

Shippo, an e-commerce shipping platform, has announced it has raised $50 million in new funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners. The company has raised a total of $154.3 million since 2014. 

This round has pushed Shippo to unicorn status, now valued at $1 billion. 

The company’s previous valuation, after its last raise of $45 million during Q4 of 2020, was $495 million. In that announcement, Shippo disclosed it had moved more than $12 billion of goods in 2020 within its system.

Since that last...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/shippo-reaches-unicorn-status-with-50m-raise