The Freightos freight booking and payment platform says it will go public on the US NASDAQ exchange in the coming months and plans to raise at least $80 million in new investment. It will merge with Tel Aviv-based Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) Gesher Acquisition Corp.
The combined entity will have a pro forma enterprise value of about $435 million, says Freightos
A SPAC, sometimes known as a blank cheque company has no commercial operations and is formed strictly to raise capital through an initial public offering or the purpose of acquiring or merging with an existing company.
Freightos says the exercise will allow it to accelerate growth in its online freight bookings, which already number hundreds of thousands a year. It claims well over 10,000 shippers, 3,500 freight forwarders and 200 carriers.
Freightos chief executive Zvi Schreiber (pictured) said the investment “presents a massive opportunity to digitalize one of the last large offline industries”.
Gesher chief executive, Ezra Gardner, added: “Freightos is modernizing the global shipping industry as a true innovator in the logistics space. Following the combination, Freightos will be the only pure-play public global freight platform investment opportunity available, and we’re excited to partner with Zvi and his team on this enormous market opportunity.”
In addition to the proposed merger with Gesher, the combined entity has obtained $80 million in capital commitments from investment firms and industry players including Qatar Airways, which has agreed to invest another $10 million in the combined company, M&G Investments ($60m) and Composite Analysis Group( $10m).
Existing shareholders in Freightos include FedEx Singapore Exchange, airlines, including Qatar Airways, IAG Cargo and LATAM Airlines.
Freightos says it is modernizing an industry stymied by intermediation, offline communications and inefficient pricing through its two core platforms – Freightos.com and WebCargo. It allows users to compare available shipping routes, capacity on specific vessels or aircraft, receive accurate, binding and all-in prices, complete with carbon emissions from shipping options, and to book in real-time.
Freightos is the calculating agent of freight shipping price indexes including the daily 40’ container index.
The Freightos management team will remain in place with Zvi Schreiber continuing as chief executive and Ran Shalev remaining as chief financial officer. The board of directors of the company is expected to include Dr Udo Lange, chief executive of FedEx Logistics and Guillaume Halleux, chief cargo officer of Qatar Airways.