Axle’s proprietary financial services platform levels the playing field for freight intermediaries in a highly competitive marketplace
Axle, an all-in-one financial services platform for the freight and logistics industry, announced that is has completed a $10 million Series A round of funding led by Crosslink Capital. This financing follows a record year for Axle, during which volume grew 850% on their payments and financing platform for freight brokers and carriers.
This investment round includes participation from FJ Labs, Flexport, Tribeca Early Stage Partners, Ron Suber (fintech investor), Jett McCandless (founder, Project44), Michael Mook (CEO, Fundopolis; principal, Big Plan Holdings), Darshan Somashekar (co-founder, EasyBib and drop.io), Mandeep Arora (founder, Cantaloupe), and Daniel Warner (SVP, sennder), as well as existing investors, Anthemis Group, Techstars, and Plug and Play Ventures.
Axle will use the financing to expand operations, grow its client base, and further develop its payments and financing platform. The new tools and services will allow clients to more efficiently and effectively run their back offices.
There are over 100,000 logistics businesses in the United States, which are expected to generate $233.9bn in revenue in 2021. The industry is growing quickly, yet it has been slow to modernize. However, an influx of tech-enabled, venture-backed freight brokers is putting pressure on incumbents to replace outdated systems. Unfortunately, these incumbents do not have the infrastructure or expertise to digitize operations on their own.
CEO and co-founder, Bharath Krishnamoorthy, says “Axle’s proprietary technology levels the playing field, so our customers can compete in a highly competitive market. With our financial platform, we’re empowering freight intermediaries to rapidly grow and differentiate their businesses in a cutthroat industry. We’re excited to partner with Crosslink to transform the freight and logistics industry.”
“Crosslink is excited to partner with Bharath, Shawn and the Axle team. They have built an excellent foundation and established themselves as an industry leader in freight factoring and payment processing. We are impressed with their innovative platform and the growth they’ve experienced over the past 12 months. We look forward to helping them scale operations.” said David Silverman, a Partner at Crosslink Capital.
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Ruth Foxe-Blader, of Anthemis, who led Axle’s Seed round, said “Axle’s continued growth is no surprise: it’s the right tech at the right time. This round of funding will allow Axle to continue building the premier digital financial services platform for the logistics industry.”
In addition to factoring invoices for its freight broker clients, Axle automates their carrier payments, invoicing, and collections, and integrates with preferred Transportation Management Systems and Accounting software programs to streamline their back-office. Axle’s advantage over its competitors is that it seamlessly connects all parts of the freight brokering process, eliminating wasted time and money for its clients.
“Axle is a customer-first company. This funding will allow us to build additional features and functionality within our suite of products to continue to meet the needs of our growing customer base,” says co-founder and CTO, Shawn Vo.
