OnePort 365, a digital freight forwarding startup has raised $5 million in seed fundraising.
The seed funding round was led by Mobility 54 (the Venture Capital arm of Toyota Tsusho and CFAO Group), with participation from SBI Investment, Flexport, ODX, a Singaporean syndicate fund and other angel investors. Existing partner, Samurai Incubate also re-invested after participating in the previous round.
OnePort 365 was founded in 2019 by Hio Sola-Usidame and has been bootstrapped since establishment. OnePort 365 intends to utilize the funding boost to digitize its freighting process from start to finish. The new investment will also help OnePort 365 explore new markets aside the Nigerian and Ghanaian markets where it is currently operational.
OnePort 365’s solutions aim at connecting Africa with global trade as well as reduce delays in cargo transportation. It is driving at enabling a seamless freight forwarding system within and without African borders where booking and delivery is digitized and easy.
The startup puts forth a variety of transporting options – ocean freight and inland haulage- for customers based on the type and size of cargo.
OnePort 365 also handles the paperwork involved in freight forwarding and delivers a digitised copy of the shipping documents via its platform. The company enables a real time tracking of shipments to give clients control of the shipment processes. The startup offers optimal freight solutions to Africa’s traders including trucking, shipping, warehousing, customs brokerage and marine insurance.
Since its establishment, OnePort 365 claims it has increased the number of twenty-foot equivalent unit containers (TEUs) by 140 percent and grown its revenue by more than 420 percent.
Commenting on the new funding Hio Sola-Usidame, CEO and founder of OnePort 365 said, “With new regulations like the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement creating the potential for a new era of trade on the continent, we want to make it easier for traders to maximize the opportunity.
We believe managing freights should be as easy as booking a flight or ordering a ride-hailing service and we are building the operating system to make this possible.”
