Kargo, which uses tech to connect companies to truckers across Indonesia, has raised US$31 million in series A funding, Bloomberg reported this afternoon.
The substantial investment comes a year after Kargo, run by former Uber executive Tiger Fang, sprang out of nowhere and surprised Southeast Asia’s tech watchers by pocketing an unusually large US$7.6 million seed round from investors including a new fund setup by ex-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.
The startup describes its ambition as to shift all logistics transactions in the country from offline to online, and thereby eliminate the inefficiencies and inflated costs faced by shippers and transporters across Indonesia.
Latest Kargo data:
- Started 2018
- Raised around US$39 million from investors
- 6,000 active shippers
- Third-party network of 50,000 trucks
Kargo is one of a large wave of startups applying new tech to old problems across the shipping and logistics industries, which are growing on the back of a boom in online shopping and cross-border trade. Southeast Asia’s third-party logistics market was worth US$36 billion in 2017 and is set to grow to US$56 billion by 2025, according to Research and Markets.
See: Making first investment, Lalamove backs trucking startup
A close rival is Waresix, which also focuses on heavy trucking.
Silicon Valley’s Tenaya Capital led this newest round, alongside Sequoia India, Indonesia’s Intudo Ventures, and Coca-Cola Amatil (the Australia-headquartered wing of the beverages giant that also covers Indonesia).