After announcing a $25 million capital raise last year, Houston-based supply chain and e-commerce firm GoExpedi has expanded its services into construction and environmental, social and governance tracking.
In addition to serving new sectors, the company also made key hires this year. This spring, Yang Tang was brought on as chief technical officer at GoExpedi, which supplies industrial, oil and gas, transportation and other customers with maintenance, repair and operations equipment through an e-commerce platform.
Tang most recently served as global director of engineering at Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD), where he scaled the beer giant's engineering practice from the ground up to oversee its global B2B sales systems. Tang also worked to develop and enhance Walmart's e-commerce strategy, including two-day shipping, economy shipping and pickup discount offerings.
Tang spent a lot of time working in the Silicon Valley tech industry helping companies sell products online, he said. But one industry where he saw a vast, untapped market for digital enablement was heavy industry. That untapped market was one of the reasons Tang moved from Silicon Valley to Houston to lead GoExpedi's technology and product development as CTO.
"Whether it was the tech or code that I wrote, or the product I had launched, or the entire teams I had built at AB InBev, they were all focused on selling things on the internet," Tang said. "GoExpedi is no different — we sell these remote industrial products on the internet, and we also build a platform ecosystem to support that."
On Nov. 3, GoExpedi unveiled a new intelligence tool designed to give customers transparency into environmental, social and governance objectives while procuring equipment from suppliers. With ESG Command, GoExpedi's online platform can identify environmentally friendly products from suppliers or source equipment from certified minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses.
Tracking ESG metrics and maintaining ethical, sustainable business practices have become top of mind for investors, analysts, governments, executives and economic development agencies in Houston and around the world. Many employers in the Houston metro region, including oil, gas and power companies, have leaned into ESG by publicly supporting reducing their carbon dioxide emissions and transitioning away from fossil fuel sources to renewable sources of energy.
GoExpedi announced an expansion into the commercial construction space in late September. Tang said GoExpedi sees a lot of opportunity in serving the construction sector with procuring safety supplies and other maintenance, repair and operation products.
"Safety is one of the first categories we're expanding into, and we're very easily able to support that particular area," Tang said. "Building materials and construction equipment are areas we're rapidly expanding into, as well."
GoExpedi maintains six warehouse locations around the nation to assist with order distribution and fulfillment, including in Houston, Odessa and Poteet, Texas; Cheyenne, Wyoming; and Bakersfield, California. In April, GoExpedi announced adding a warehouse in Pittsburgh — the firm's first location in the Northeast.
The company raised a $25 million Series C round in 2020 led by San Francisco-based Top Tier Capital Partners. GoExpedi also announced securing a $15 million debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank last year.
Founded in 2017, GoExpedi provides over 200,000 parts and supplies through its e-commerce platform. GoExpedi CEO Tim Neal was named a finalist for Ernst & Young's 2021 Entrepreneur of the Year Gulf Coast Area Awards this summer.
