Most merchants in South Korea track their international shipping logistics via email until your cargo arrives safely at its destination. This includes all administrative processes, from shipper to importer, including logistics, customs, surcharges and transport booking.
Portlogics, a South Korean digital carrier offering a shipment management system based on robotic process automation, aims to help sellers track international shipment logistics and receive shipment status updates by scanning the process with its software tool.
Hyoung-chul Choi, CEO of Portlogics, is a serial entrepreneur who first noticed the inefficient way of pursuing international logistics when he ran his first startup, YLP, a half-mile logistics startup that was acquired by the South -Korean telecom subsidiary. , T card in 2021.
Shipping costs fluctuated constantly during the pandemic, leaving carriers unable to predict shipping costs. Choi and three other co-founders recognized that the trucking industry was in desperate need of a digital transformation and founded Portlogics that same year to build a web-based truck and business order management system that merchants can now use when their products are delivered . transported on a ship or transported by road or rail.
More than 26 companies use Portlogics’ software tool, Choi said, adding that there are major logistics and transportation companies, such as GS Global and Hyundai Bioland, that produce materials for cosmetics and nutritional supplements.
That kind of traction enabled the Korean startup to raise $1.6 million (2 billion won) in pre-Series A funding from investors including the K2G Fund and strategic investor GS Global, owned by Korean conglomerate GS. Holdings.
Portlogics, which now has 19 employees (six in R&D), will use the new capital to further develop its platform, including by hiring additional staff.
The startup also plans to introduce artificial intelligence and machine learning that can understand the data collected by the team and allow them to better estimate shipping costs and book them electronically, Choi explained. In addition, Portlogics is in talks with B2B SaaS security companies to protect customers using its software and strengthen its own data security measures, Choi added.
Portlogics currently focuses on the freight industry in South Korea, but plans to open offices in Southeast Asia and the United States after 2024, Choi said, noting that there is still a lot of market share to gain.
According to an estimate by research firm Allied Research, the global digital freight market will grow from $2.92 billion in 2020 to $22.9 billion in 2030.
“Logistics and global supply chain management have been reorganized [due to rising tension between the U.S. and China]and more and more companies are moving to the US to build chip and battery factories,” said Archi KyoungRok Kong, managing partner of K2G Fund. “With this paradigm shift, more Korean suppliers are participating in global supply chain management ecosystems, and freight transactions from South Korea to the US and the rest of the world appear to be increasing. . Therefore, the K2G Fund believes that now is a good time for significant growth opportunities for South Korea-based road transport companies.”
Source: La Neta Neta
Jason Jack is an experienced technology journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in computer science and engineering, he has a deep understanding of the latest technology trends and developments. He writes about a wide range of technology topics, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, software development, and cybersecurity.
