San Francisco logistics company Flexport announced it raised $935 million, the third-largest funding round in the Bay Area so far this year.
The Series E round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and MSD Partners, and included Shopify, DST Global, Founders Fund, Softbank Vision Fund and Kevin Kwok.
Flexport's valuation also more than doubled to $8 billion since its Series D round in 2019, when it raised $1 billion at a $3.2 billion valuation, according to PitchBook.
"The global pandemic and the pressure it put on supply chains made the transportation of goods — something we took for granted — a daily pain point. This investment signals that the market recognizes that need for a tech-enabled logistics ecosystem with the visibility and resilience to handle unexpected challenges of any scale," Flexport founder and CEO Ryan Petersen said in a statement.
The company arranges "ocean- and airfreight shipments for retailers and manufacturers by using technology and a web interface that mirrors travel-booking websites," according to the WSJ.
Peterson was a guest on an episode of “All-In This Weekend,” a podcast hosted by Silicon Valley heavyweights Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks and David Friedberg.
The hosts were discussing the competitive advantage that large retailers have to take more more control of their own supply chains (think: Apple, Tesla, Amazon, Walmart) which has allowed them to weather pandemic-induced challenges more robustly.
"My vision for Flexport is that we become that layer and we allow small businesses, medium-size businesses to get access to world-class logistics services and get them, sort of almost be a union that can represent them at the table against these bigger guys," Peterson said.
So far this year, only two Bay Area companies have outraised Flexport. Altos Labs raised a $3 billion round in January and Cruise announced a $1.35 billion round earlier in February.
