Logistics Startup Fr8Labs Closes Initial Funding of 23 Billion Rupiah

Indonesia and Singapore-based logistics startup, Fr8Labs, closed a seed funding round of $1,5 million (around 23 billion Rupiah) from East Ventures, FEBE Ventures, Kaya Founders, Mulia Sky Capital, Seedstars International Ventures, Venturra, and others angel investors.

Fr8Labs is a service provider freight forwarding (transportation of goods/cargo) based on AI with coverage in Southeast Asia. This funding will be used to support Fr8Labs' product development and market expansion.

"This support allows us to improve our logistics technology solutions so that we can provide added value along the value chain. Our solutions are specifically designed and innovative so that businesses become more efficient and competitive. We are very enthusiastic about revolutionizing the way customers freight forwarder operating," said Fr8Labs Co-Founder & CEO Glenn Lai.

Fr8Labs was founded in early 2022 by Glenn Lai (ex COO Indonesian Bizzy) and Felix Lu. With a family background in freight forwarder, Lai realized that there was a gap between the development of the cargo industry in Asia and that in the US which was relatively digitalized.

Southeast Asia logistics market is worth $389 billion by 2022 with a CAGR of 11.8% in the next 5 years according to an OECD study. Currently, Fr8Labs is operational with paying customers in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Australia.

"The application of technology is very important in the logistics industry because it can increase cost efficiency and productivity. Industrial players also still face challenges developing digital logistics. Fr8Labs' innovative technology solutions are here to overcome the challenges faced freight forwarder in Southeast Asia," said East Ventures Managing Partner Roderick Purwana.

Digitalization of cargo services

As stated in his official statement, freight forwarders have important role in facilitating global trade. According to a DHL report, intra-Asian trade accounts for the largest with 30% of the world's total TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) trade volume, and is twice the size of the US market. However, this service still operates in a traditional and fragmented manner.

Meanwhile, most of the perpetrators freight forwarder Large-scale international networks have been connected digitally to increase efficiency and resilience, which is said to be an important factor in facing the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

However, this situation is different from the Asian market which is dominated by small and medium scale businesses (SMEs) where there is a technology gap. Apart from that, process backend in a manner offline resulting in many redundancies and avoidable costs, for example fines demurrage. 

Fr8Labs develops various solutions for freight forwarder in Asia, including operational systems (OS) based cloud and muzzle assistant as co-pilot A.I. This solution allows them to digitalize the cargo industry by simplifying operations.

The Fr8Labs platform also enables automated shipping and workflows, producing complete documents in one step, and reducing human errors that can cause delays such as errors in customs filing.

Fr8Labs will expand the service experience by offering several relevant supporting products, such as WMS, FX trading, financing, cargo insurance, rate visibility and management, and marketplace Everything is integrated on one platform to offer a unified experience in one interface.