In Western markets, freight forwarders are effectively into digitizing their operations, however the identical doesn’t maintain true in Southeast Asia, say the founders of Fr8Labs. The explanations for that embody the shortage of localized software program and a extra fragmented logistics trade the place SMBs dominate. Fr8Labs needs to digitize Asia’s logistics trade with its SaaS working system and has plans to show it into an open ecosystem that a number of gamers can faucet into with APIs.

The Singapore and Indonesia-based startup introduced immediately it has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from East Ventures, FEBE Ventures, Kaya Founders, Mulia Sky Capital, Seedstars, Venturra and angel traders. Fr8Labs at present has greater than 50 prospects in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Australia and is increasing into the remainder of Asia.

The startup was based in 2022 by chief government officer Glenn Lai and chief of product and know-how officer Felix Lu. Lai, who has members of the family within the freight forwarding trade, began his personal profession in logistics in 2015 at Sinar Gasoline Golden Agri Assets. Then in 2019, he and Lu joined e-commerce logistics firm Bizzy in Indonesia, the place they served as COO and VP of product, respectively.

After Bizzy was acquired by Warung Pintar, the 2 returned to Singapore, the place Lai was chief of technique and progress at software program firm Gravity Provide Chain. He traveled all over the world, working with main worldwide logistics and provide chain corporations. In developed markets, he seen that offer chains have been digitally interconnected, in distinction to Asian markets.

Lai says one cause for the know-how hole in Asia’s freight forwarding trade is that the market is extra fragmented in comparison with Western international locations the place enterprise gamers dominate. Massive freight forwarders are capable of sway different gamers to digitize, particularly since they’ve techniques that the businesses they work with can plug into with APIs. However, Asia’s freight forwarders are primarily SMBs and don’t have the identical sort of centralized energy to affect new practices. Lai provides that another excuse is that digital logistics techniques are created for particular markets, and don’t work in Asia due to completely different accounting or customs insurance policies.

In consequence, many freight forwarders in Asia, particularly Southeast Asia, nonetheless use on-premise software program, or a mixture of Microsoft Excel, e mail, chat and off-the-shelf accounting techniques. Lai says this makes it tough for them to scale and likewise leads to errors that may price freight forwarders customs or demurrage penalties (charges charged on transport containers that aren’t picked up on time).

“This contrast inspired me to think about how we could improve the freight forwarding industry in Asia,” Lai tells TechCrunch. “I brought Felix and some past colleagues together to brainstorm solutions. We realized that leveraging the strong networks, expertise and relationships of Asian freight forwarders, rather than disrupting them, was key.”

Fr8Labs co-founders Felix Lu and Glenn Lai

Fr8Labs is growing merchandise that may improve these networks, together with giving freight forwarders the power to supply cargo insurance coverage, FX commerce and financing services to their finish prospects (much like how on-line journey companies provide journey insurance coverage to passengers). The startup’s core providing is its Working System that helps a freight forwarder’s complete workflow: citation, reserving confirmations, cargo affirmation, job accounting and an accounting backend. The platform helps departments like gross sales and operations collaborate extra effectively and hyperlinks platforms like e mail and chat.

One use case is that as a substitute of doing a number of guide knowledge entries, a freight forwarder can add a PDF of a transport order and have cargo reserving and different paperwork created routinely, together with kinds that should be submitted to customs. One other instance of how Fr8Labs can be utilized is its Warehouse Administration System module, which lets freight forwarders interface instantly with their shopper’s backend ERP, to allow them to handle worldwide shipments to and from the identical warehouse.

A part of Fr8Labs’ funding shall be used to develop its platform, with plans so as to add FX commerce, financing, cargo insurance coverage, charges administration and a market. The startup’s purpose is to show its platform into an open ecosystem that may combine with and handle completely different logistics tech software program.

“Think of Android or Apple, and how well integrated each of their devices are in the ecosystem,” says Lai. “We want to provide the freight forwarder a seamless experience for them to operate on, and then build more value-adding services on top of it.”

In a press release, East Ventures managing accomplice Roderick Purwana mentioned, “The application of technology is crucial in logistics because it can help to increase cost efficiency and productivity, yet players in the industries are not immune to challenges in enhancing digital logistics. Fr8Labs’ innovative tech solution is here to address the challenges freight forwarders face in Southeast Asia. With the team’s expertise, we are confident that Fr8Labs can transform the logistics industry, adding value across the value chain.”