Another logistics startup emerges in Seattle as former Amazon, Flexport execs reveal Freightmate
Freightmate founders, from left: Yingwei (Jason) Zhao, Bryan Lacaillade, and Rishab Gadroo. (Freightmate Photo)
The list of Seattle-area logistics startups continues to grow with the addition of Freightmate.ai, a new company that came out of stealth mode Thursday.
Led by former execs at Amazon and Flexport, the Seattle-based startup aims to help freight forwarding companies manage tasks and documents with the help of artificial intelligence.
Freightmate CEO and co-founder Bryan Lacaillade was most recently a director of product management at logistics tech giant Flexport and previously worked at Amazon in its logistics business.
His co-founders include Yingwei (Jason) Zhao, who also worked at Flexport and Amazon in logistics-related roles, and Rishab Gadroo, who spent 13 years at Amazon in various engineering roles.
The company announced a $650,000 pre-seed round from Wischoff Ventures, led by New York investor Nichole Wischoff.
“The $220 billion freight forwarding industry is still run on antiquated tech from the 1990s,” Wischoff wrote on LinkedIn. “Freightmate AI’s is building the next generation AI-enabled freight management system. The goal is to replace the need for larger freight forwarders to build/maintain their own FMS or have to leverage decades old technology with zero automation.”
Lacaillade told GeekWire the company is not generating revenue yet. “We just launched our first document automation service offering this week and are now looking for our first freight forwarder customers,” he said.
Other logistics startups with roots in the Seattle area include GoodShip, Manifold Freight, Flexe, Shipum, Pipe17, Outgo, Logixboard, and others.
Digital trucking marketplace Convoy was Seattle’s most well known logistics startup, valued at nearly $4 billion before a stunning collapse last year. The company sold its assets to Flexport this past fall.
Several former employees from Convoy have gone on to lead or launch logistics startups in Seattle and elsewhere.