As part of our Sacramento Inno coverage, the Business Journal for the first time compiled a list of Startups to Watch in the new year. These startups are poised to make big moves, either in growth, funding, technology or development. We're highlighting 13 startups, generally with fewer than 100 employees, about 5 years old or less and that have raised less than $50 million. The group includes a diverse mix of companies throughout the region.
Startup to Watch: Clockwork Logistics Systems
If your product doesn’t get to your customer somewhere else in the world, it’s as if you never made a sale. Before the current problems of logistics, the biggest problem in shipping was the last-mile delivery. Clockwork Logistics Systems in Elk Grove developed cloud software that allows global shipping companies to connect with local independent transportation and delivery companies in destination cities, whether that’s Kansas City or Kuala Lumpur.
Clockwork has developed cargo tracking technology to manage the final-destination stage of delivery. In much of the shipping industry, the “last mile” is often handled by an independent truck driver who is disconnected from the process of tracking a shipment.
Clockwork’s technology allows the last-mile driver to use a smartphone app to track that final delivery. That is what Clockwork currently offers. But the company is also working on a fix for ports. At a time when global logistics is being pushed beyond its capacity, Clockwork is working on logistics technology to help ports better stage drayage, trucks and delivery in one of the most bottlenecked parts of the supply chain.
In 2021, Clockwork raised $5.5 million in funding led by South African corporate venture capital firm Newtown Partners - Imperial, as well as shipping company Vineta Ventures Gmbh of Hamburg, Germany, and Estes Express Lines, a Richmond, Virginia-based shipping company.
