In its efforts to be a major player for delivery in the Southeast Asia region, Teleport, the logistics venture of Airasia, has invested in Kargo Technologies (Kargo), Indonesia’s largest trucking marketplace, in the form of convertible notes.

This acquisition was funded through Teleport’s internally generated sources, Teleport said in a statement on Thursday.

According to the statement, the investment connects Kargo’s trucking network to Teleport’s infrastructure, expanding Teleport’s mid-mile capabilities beyond just air cargo.

In line with Teleport’s mission to move things across Southeast Asia better than anybody else, it said the partnership with Kargo unlocks an opportunity to combine air connectivity with trucking capabilities on the ground, leveraging strong technology and enhancing the network.

For Indonesia, in particular, given its archipelagic geography and topography, the most effective way to connect these cities is to operate a “middle mile” service connecting both land and air. said Teleport.

For Kargo, it said Teleport’s regional presence, vast network and rich data will assist them to expand their footprint rapidly across the region. The partnership will also support Teleport’s commitment to making 24 hour deliveries possible using the multi-modal routes across the archipelago.

Kargo which has over 75,000 trucks in its network and is digitalising logistics for shippers and transporters, will use the funds from the transaction to support the company’s continued growth for end-to-end freight coverage in the B2B space and for expansion to other cities in the region in conjunction with Teleport.

“When we were first connected to Tiger Fang, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kargo in 2021, we almost instantly agreed that both a commercial partnership and potential investment by Teleport would make sense for both parties. It has always been our goal to deliver with speed at low cost and to serve the underserved, which is why we acknowledge that the fastest-growing cities of the future will be smaller ‘middleweight; cities, rather than larger primary cities,

“To support this, we need to look beyond the AirAsia network and air transportation to connect these emerging cities. With our strengths combined through air and land, this partnership with Kargo sets us up to move things across Southeast Asia better than anybody else,” said Pete Chareonwongsak, Chief Executive Officer of Teleport.

Meanwhile, Fang said the strategic partnership with Teleport will help Kargo to become multi-modal, expanding in the value chain horizontally.

“We expect the partnership to mutually benefit both parties by growing each other’s presence in South East Asia in 2022 as we look to solve the evergreen logistics issue in the region,” he said.

Kargo is Indonesia’s largest business to business (B2B) trucking platform. Its product suites can seamlessly integrate with any business and empower supply chains to work with more transparency and efficiency. Kargo’s workflow tools allow freight to be priced, tracked and billed with technology. Kargo’s platform has highly managed and vetted transporters along with reputation systems to instill trust. The platform has managed to grow 15 times its volume over the past year and attracted notable clients such as Unilever, Coca-Cola, Shopee, Maersk, among many others.

Teleport is the logistics venture of AirAsia Group Berhad. Founded in 2018, Teleport is on a mission to enable everyone, from single merchants to the largest companies, to move things across Southeast Asia better than anybody else in 24 hours. Currently, Teleport is present in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, India, Singapore and China.

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