Forager, a technology company providing cross-border solutions to the logistics industry, has secured USD10 million in a Series A financing round led by US Venture Partners (USVP) with participation from existing investors Chicago Ventures and new investor Soma Capital. The investment brings Forager’s total funding since launch to USD14.5 million and will help the company rapidly grow its engineering and product teams to expedite product development as well as add additional logistics experts and hungry talent eager to disrupt the industry. USVP General Partner Rick Lewis will join Forager’s Board of Directors.
USVP partners with entrepreneurs to transform their ideas into world-changing companies. They focus on early-stage start-ups with notable investments such as Box, HotelTonight, Trunk Club, and Yammer.
The Series A funding builds on an exciting year for Forager, which saw the launch of its revolutionary logistics Platform SCOUT by Forager, key executive appointments, and the company being named to FreightWaves 2020 “FreightTech 100” list, ChicagoInno’s “20 Chicago Startups to Watch in 2020” list, and Built In Chicago’s “50 Startups to Watch in 2020” list. Forager appointed Signal founder Marc Kiven as President, and FeedBurner co-Founder and VSCO Director of Engineering Eric Lunt to the board.
“Forager has a totally unique solution that was purpose-built to address the challenges associated with cross-border shipping,” says Rick Lewis, General Partner with USVP. “The Forager team has unmatched industry expertise that positions the company to capitalise on this massive market opportunity while benefiting shippers, carriers, and consumers. We are thrilled to support Forager as they pursue this important mission.”
Forager leverages decades of industry experience to provide shippers with a seamless cross-border experience and access to cutting edge technology. SCOUT by Forager, the industry’s first and only comprehensive cross-border pricing and booking portal, launched in October of 2019. With SCOUT by Forager it’s possible to instantly book, track, and manage any load between the US, Mexico, and Canada with exception management support from a multilingual operations team. An update of SCOUT by Forager will be released in Spring of 2020 with additional products to come later this year.
“We’re excited to ramp up development and grow the team,” says Forager Chief Executive Officer Matt Silver. “We’ve accomplished so much operating as a very lean, very scrappy startup. I couldn’t be prouder of how far we’ve come, but now the gloves are off. Now we can really go big.”
