Startup targeting logistics messaging nabs $1.3 million investment

A startup aiming to ease communication hurdles that logistics service providers experience with the carriers they use has landed a $1.3 million early stage funding round headlined by two existing logistics technology founders.

Los Angeles-based Vendorflow’s platform is designed to allow parties to coordinate with one another across the various communications tools they use, whether it be email, SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat, or others.

The round was led by TenOneTen, which has invested in pooled truckload broker Flock Freight, trucking optimization technology provider Optimal Dynamics, and yard management system provider Navtrac. Among the independent investors into Vendorflow are project44 CEO Jett McCandless and Flock Freight CEO Oren Zaslansky, whose two companies have collectively raised nearly $600 million.

Vendorflow is a communications layer that sits above a broker or drayage provider’s transportation management system “where operations reps can communicate with carriers in contextual, purpose-driven threads for tasks such as booking loads, gathering rates, collecting documents, and performing status checks,” the company said in a statement.

Among the key interactions the company is targeting are those between freight brokers and the carriers they enlist, and drayage providers and the owner-operators they use.

Vendorflow CEO Eric Rodriguez said the concept is to create an environment around key logistics processes for operations personnel that’s as easy to use as Calendly, the meeting scheduling app.

“Logistics providers need the ability to request structured data from their vendors in a way that does not burden,” Rodriguez told JOC.com. “That’s the opportunity.”

Param Singh, president of drayage operator Best Bay Logistics, also invested, which Rodriguez said was important due to the strategic value of partnering with a prominent, tech-forward drayage provider. “Best Bay is excited to collaborate with Vendorflow on developing a solution that reaches carriers where they are, instead of vice versa,” Singh said in the statement.

Rodriguez and co-founder Greg Bujak, both veterans of drayage broker Next Trucking, initially set out to solve the friction in rate procurement between brokers and carriers. However, the practical application of the platform now serves a wide range of supply chain communications.

Companies in Vendorflow’s sweet spot are mid-sized freight brokers, freight forwarders, and drayage carriers that interact with outside carriers daily, Rodriguez said.

“Logistics service providers interact with more than 500,000 trucking companies every day in America, each with their own communications preferences,” Rodriguez said. “As chat apps like WhatsApp, WeChat, and Telegram become increasingly popular, logistics service providers need an enterprise-grade solution to meet carriers where they are at.”