Portfolio
3
companies
Raft
Raft supplies an AI-powered automation platform for freight forwarders and customs brokers.
Vector
Vector provides workflow automation software for international freight forwarders.
ChAI
ChAI predicts raw material price fluctuations using artificial intelligence.
Jon Bradford
Partner
Jon is managing partner at Dynamo Ventures and co-founder of Ormeau Baths. He also serves as a board member at NDRC and entrepreneur in residence at Founders at the University of Cambridge.
LinkedInEight Roads led the Series B financing round with backing from Bessemer Venture Partners, Episode 1, Dynamo Ventures, and Moguntia Capital.
"We founded Raft as an AI-first company because we saw an opportunity to empower freight forwarders and customs brokers with technology, and take pressure off their operational teams so that they could focus on their customers instead of their keyboards,"
The Series A round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from Dynamo Ventures and Episode 1.
"Most employees within freight forwarders spend the majority of their time communicating with the 10-25 different entities that might be associated with a given shipment and coordinating freight movement and documentation. Communication usually runs through email and attachments, so freight forwarders spend countless hours sorting through documents and manually copying data into a Transportation Management System (TMS), their core system of record. But they’re spending far too much time gathering data rather than analysing it, and they’re using outdated tools which are no longer fit for the complexity of today’s operational and logistical demands."
Passion Capital led the seed round for the raw materials prediction startup.
"At ChAI we’ve been tremendously encouraged by the near-instant and overwhelmingly positive response we’ve received to our methodology and predictions on commodities pricing. The inbound interest we’ve received for our “signals” and approach has been hugely validating and we look forward to introducing our services to many more companies in 2020. For this we’re excited to partner with such esteemed investors and business builders to progress our journey and take the company to the next level"
