Logistics software startup FourKites Inc. will expand its shipping visibility tool beyond the trucking industry to cover additional transportation modes, thanks to a $13 million venture capital injection, the company announced today.
Chicago-based FourKites makes real-time load tracking software that helps shippers trace their products through the complex infrastructure of the trucking supply chain. Fueled by its new funding, the FourKites plans to hire 100 employees to help integrate more data sources into its tracking platform; expand internationally; and cover additional transportation modes such as LTL, rail, intermodal, and ocean, the company said.
The new funds come primarily from Bain Capital Ventures. Additional money comes from previous FourKites investors Hyde Park Venture Partners, Hyde Park Angels, and Otter Consulting.
"Supply chain efficiency has become paramount for every kind of business," said Bain Capital Ventures managing director Ajay Agarwal in a statement. Bain invested in FourKites because of the software firm's vision of improving on-time performance for trucking cargo deliveries, leading to less wait time at warehouses, lower stock-outs, and faster inventory turns, Agarwal said.
FourKites' platform works by leveraging its proprietary technology with a network of more than 45 partnerships with providers of GPS-enabled electronic logging devices (ELDs). FourKites also partners with transportation management systems (TMS) providers such as JDA Software Group Inc. to provide real-time truckload telematics and location data to shippers.
FourKites says the new funding will allow it to expand its load-tracking tools just in time to ride a wave of demand that could be triggered by a U.S. Department of Transportation mandate that commercial trucking firms use ELDs by the end of 2017.
