Ship Angel, a revolutionary AI-native platform for international shippers, has secured US$5 million in funding co-led by Glasswing Ventures and Newark Venture Partners (NVP), with participation from Bienville Capital, Socii Capital, and Plug and Play.
This investment will fuel the expansion of Ship Angel’s ocean and air freight Rate Management Platform, including the introduction of two innovative AI-powered solutions aimed at streamlining workflows for beneficial cargo owners (BCOs). These solutions were unveiled at the Plug and Play Silicon Valley June 2024 Summit.
“Ship Angel’s AI rate management platform represents a significant leap forward in providing transparency and control at the rate card level. By empowering BCOs and shippers to directly engage with ocean carriers, Ship Angel is revolutionizing how logistics operations are managed, paving the way for a more efficient and collaborative shipping ecosystem,” commented Thomas Wisniewski, managing partner for NVP.
The global cargo shipping market wields immense influence and impact. Allied Market Research projects its total volume to grow annually by 7%, reaching US$4.2 trillion by 2031.
Despite the critical importance of managing and selecting freight shipping rates, these processes remain largely manual and prone to significant human error. In today’s volatile market, BCOs grapple with an error rate of over 30% on invoices, resulting in substantial financial losses.
Ship Angel’s latest offerings, Contract Amendment Guard and Invoice Audit, introduce crucial automation to the rate management process, delivering substantial enhancements to BCOs’ financial performance.
The Amendment Guard acts as a centralized communication hub between carriers/forwarders and shippers, identifying changes such as surcharges, free time adjustments, and transit time alterations. Moreover, Ship Angel’s AI-powered invoice Auditing enables BCOs to store bookings digitally, where they are matched with precise dates (e.g., sailing or receipt at the terminal) and actual rates.
The AI swiftly identifies inconsistencies, significantly reducing error rates and saving countless hours of manual labour.
“BCOs are among the most underserved global shipping segments when it comes to modern, high-quality logistics technology. The shipping industry has reached a pivotal moment where complexity, unpredictability, and cost have skyrocketed and are unmanageable using spreadsheets. Ship Angel addresses these challenges head-on with innovative AI-native SaaS solutions that deliver significant value in efficiency, supply chain performance, and data accuracy,” stated Graham Parker, co-founder and CEO of Ship Angel.
