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It’s no mystery anymore that since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, and only further heightened by recent geopolitical tensions across the world, there has been a whirlwind of attention (much of it deserved, in our opinion) toward the critical importance of supply chain resiliency and transparency. Nowhere is this truer than for shippers, who account for a massive amount of both freight volume and associated spend across innumerable industries ranging from industrial supplies and equipment all the way to home goods and CPG. In the US, these businesses drive demand for the nearly ~$800B trucking market.
Within this market, “contract” freight accounts for roughly 80% of shipping volume. The contract market allows for shippers to partner with carriers at predetermined pricing levels, offering security from the volatile “spot” market (non-contracted freight rates available on-demand). Nevertheless, even contract freight partnership is predicated on a certain level of trust between the two parties given its non-binding nature. With disparate and siloed data still the norm across the supply chain, shippers (and carriers) are often left with a major knowledge gap when it comes to optimizing freight transportation procurement.
With this in mind, Ironspring Ventures is proud to announce we have partnered with GoodShip by leading the company’s $5M Seed round to accelerate its collaborative cloud-based analytics and transportation procurement platform for shippers.
Ironspring Ventures is proud to be joined by our co-lead and long time logistics tech co-investor, Chicago Ventures, and existing investors FUSE VC and Cercano Management. GoodShip has also notably raised previous and continuing investments from the founders and executives of several industry-leading tech companies including Convoy founder Dan Lewis, Stord founder Sean Henry, FreightWaves founder Craig Fuller, and Project44 founder Jett McCandless, among others.
We had the chance to get know GoodShip co-founders CEO Ryan Soskin and CTO David Tsai as they were launching the company in 2022 via a close transportation and logistics innovation ally, Matt Silver. It was immediately apparent that these freight tech vets both knew the customer pain point from experience and also had a clear vision of the technology platform whitespace they could build to modernize transportation procurement. Industry leaders want solutions designed by and for industry leaders who understand the challenges unique to transportation procurement, and GoodShip’s team, early partnerships, and rapidly developed platform all reflect both their deep roots in freight and, consequently, an even deeper understanding of what transportation procurement products enterprise supply chains need to create resilience and thrive in a post-pandemic world.
As mentioned above, GoodShip is building a collaborative transportation procurement platform for shippers that acts as a neutral execution layer for all stakeholders involved. Specifically, the platform brings together data silos from each customer’s tech ecosystem — TMS (transportation management system) tender data, contract award data, location data — enriches it with real-time pricing from partners like FreightWaves SONAR, then provides the tools to make that information instantly actionable directly from the platform. In unifying this information, GoodShip sets the stage for a collaborative interface in which shippers and carriers can set clear expectations and gain live scorecard intelligence on each other – ultimately reducing conflict between parties and saving time and dollars devoted to freight procurement. All while maintaining neutrality across various stakeholder interests interacting on the platform.
Early customers have already reported 3-5% savings on their total freight spend, primarily on contracted lanes, translating to millions of dollars annually. Additionally, late deliveries to requested delivery date (RDD) have decreased 20%.
“Modern supply chains generate vast amounts of data, but so much of that data is inaccessible or underutilized, limiting shippers’ ability to respond swiftly and effectively when market rates shift or carrier performance deteriorates” said Ryan Soskin, CEO and Co-Founder of GoodShip.
Given high levels of volatility in the freight market, defined by fluctuations from tight to loose capacity, it will be increasingly important for shippers to leverage data to save time and spend on freight transportation procurement. GoodShip’s solution acts as a modern, unifying platform to meet this need. Ryan and David have impressed us with their ability to quickly execute over the last year – and we can’t wait to see the splash they make across the freight and logistics ecosystem. Reach out to us if you want to discuss further!
GoodShip Website: goodship.io
FreightWaves Coverage: GoodShip Raises $5M to Provide Analytics to Both Shippers and Carriers
