
Beacon Secures USD 15 Million in Series A Round of Financing
The U.K. based startup leverages AI, cloud, and automation technologies to offer ocean, air, and truck freight, together with supply chain finance, all of which can be accessed and managed on a single platform
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CIO Applications Europe | Thursday, June 11, 2020

The U.K. based startup leverages AI, cloud, and automation technologies to offer ocean, air, and truck freight, together with supply chain finance, all of which can be accessed and managed on a single platform
Fremont, CA: Freight forwarding and supply chain finance provider Beacon raised over USD 15 million in a Series A round of financing, with investments from Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and American Venture Capital firm 8VC. Beacon was founded in 2018 by CEO Fraser Robinson and COO Dmitri Izmailov, both former Uber executives. They were joined by CTO Pierre Martin, former head of engineering at Amazon.
"The traditional freight forwarder model remains surprisingly analog, using systems and processes that are slow and inefficient, with opaque pricing and limited use of technology," said Robinson. “Our goal is to disrupt the trillion-dollar freight forwarder market by vastly improving the experience for importers and exporters with a more transparent and smarter shipping product. We also believe that our ability to offer supply chain finance can be transformative for our customers by allowing them to better control and manage their cash flow.”
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The U.K.based startup leverages AI, cloud, and automation technologies to offer ocean, air, and truck freight, together with supply chain finance, all of which can be accessed and managed on a single platform. The company's platform finds the quickest and most cost-effective trade routes by combining a real-time view of the global delivery of cargo and a marketplace view of shipping prices. The company will use proceeds from the investment round to invest in new hires, technology, and market expansions.
The company's supply chain finance arm offers buyers access to finance to pay its suppliers. “Importers need flexible finance to meet their working capital needs. To address this, Beacon offers qualifying customers financing within 72 hours, which also entitles them to shipping discounts,” read a statement issued by the company. According to Robinson, digitization of trade has accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making conventional freight forwarders more precarious than ever.
Jeff Bezos and 8VC join other investors in Beacon, including Uber founders Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, as well as venture capital firms Neo, Red Sea Ventures, Mantaray, and FJ Labs. The investment round comes in soon after Beacon appointed Brenton Booth as its head of supply chain finance earlier this year. Before the appointment, Booth ran his own strategy and product development consultancy, Epic Growth, which focused on working capital finance and logistics for financial institutions and fintechs.
See also: Top Logistics Tech Startups
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