Container logistics optimisation platform MatchLog on January 19 announced that it raised $3 million in its pre-series A round of funding from Singapore-based Blue Ashva Capital, Rainmatter Climate, and Capital-A.
The fresh capital will be deployed to develop the tech platform for artificial intelligence and machine learning-based pairing of cargo across India, the company said in a press release.
It also plans to grow the multi-modal share in addition to road transport and expand its footprint to more ports in India and abroad, MatchLog said in a press release.
"We will start with India and then expand to the Middle East, Africa, and south-east Asian markets in the next 12-18 months. At MatchLog, our mission is to reduce at least 100 million tonnes of carbon through our platform in the coming five years," said Dhruv Taneja, founder of MatchLog.
MatchLog helps the trade turnaround a container from an import to export cycle, thereby eliminating unnecessary empty runs to and from the container yards.
When a cargo container arrives in India, it is de-stuffed at the importer’s location and returned empty to the container yard to close the import cycle for the shipping line, the company said in a press release.
These empty containers are again picked up from the yards and brought to the exporter’s location for stuffing and moved to the ports for loading onto a ship for export.
There are multiple redundant legs in the trip and a lot of fuel and time are wasted carrying empty containers to the yard and back. In India alone, there are more than 17 million empty trips annually leading to more than $2 billion worth of fuel wastage and 2 million tonnes of carbon emissions.
