Online freight marketplace CargoHound has received a boost to its expansion strategy in Australia and New Zealand by securing seed funding from investors in the UK, US and Australia.
Taking three years to develop, CargoHound connects exporters and importers with ‘community rated’ freight providers reducing time, cost and risk of shipping products internationally.
Freight costs are still a major obstacle, with 63 per cent of Australian exporters believing transportation and freight costs are important factors adversely affecting their competitiveness, according to a 2014 Australian International Business Survey.
Co-founder Kim Mauch, who came up with the concept, says as a long-term buyer of international freight, she could see where the efficiency and transparency was lacking in the sector and knew exporters and importers were crying out for a better way.
“Teaming up with co-founders and industry veterans Pete Johnson (commodity trade specialist) and Ian Smith (ex-Australian Trade Commissioner) we have been able to develop a user friendly website that we know the industry needs, not what we think they want,” she says.
Co-founder and CargoHound CEO, Ian Smith, says that having first mover advantage was imperative to scaling quickly in the massive international freight market.
“In Australia alone, total merchandise trade totalled $525 billion in 2014 and the number of importers and exporters has grown rapidly to over 105.000,” he explains. “By our estimates, capturing just 0.75 per cent of this market for air and sea freight will equate to revenues of over $100,000 per month for CargoHound within 12 months.
“And if our recently completed BETA testing is any guide the demand is definitely there. The response from our 40 importers and exporters and 10 freight forwarders was overwhelmingly positive which bodes well for future growth.”
CargoHound is sponsoring a national roadshow hosted by the Export Council of Australia in July and August, visit www.export.org.au for more information and to register.
