Locad Targets The Middle East After $9 Million Fund Raise

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Locad Targets The Middle East After  Million Fund Raise

Logistics specialist Locad will today announce it has raised $9 million of Series B finance, taking the total amount of funding raised by the start-up to more than $30 million. The company, headquartered in Singapore, will use the additional capital to power a major expansion into the Middle East, with an initial focus on the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Forbes first profiled Locad in January 2023, revealing news of its $11 million Series A round. Since then, the business, founded in 2020, has doubled down on its efforts to build inroads with consumer-facing brands. “Fundamentally, we are here to make it easier for brands to reach their customers,” says Constantin Robertz, CEO and one of three co-founders of the company. “We provide those brands with a logistics engine.”

The company’s pitch to the consumer sector is proving to be powerful. Locad has warehousing space in countries across Asia and has developed relationships with partners ranging from shipping companies to last-mile delivery agents. The company’s customers can use Locad’s warehousing to store inventory and then use the firm to arrange delivery of their goods once an order has been placed. The cloud-based platform effectively means consumer brands don’t have to develop a logistics infrastructure of their own – which can prove valuable as they expand into new markets or operate in territories they don’t know well.

When Forbes last spoke to Locad, the company had racked up around 2 million deliveries for its customers. Today, says Robertz, that figure has just gone above 10 million; the value of the goods shipped by the company has more than tripled since its Series A round.

Locad has also focused on expanding its capabilities over the past two years. “We’ve enhanced our software capabilities in areas such predictive analytics,” explains Robertz. “That has enabled us to offer more help to brands with inventory management and sales forecasting.”

The business has also expanded beyond e-commerce, recognising that most large consumer brands are pursuing multi-channel strategies. Locad can, for example, handle deliveries of stock to physical retail stores as well as to the end consumer. “Being able to provide brands with a single view of their inventory across all their channels is an important focus for us,” adds Robertz.

At the same time, Locad has also sought to expand its reach geographically, opening its first office in China, for example, as well as launching fulfilment centres in the US for brands that don’t have a presence on the ground in the world’s largest consumer market. The business’s launch into the Middle East is part of the same strategy of global expansion.

Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia are attractive markets to Locad, Robertz explains. “They are increasingly valuable consumer markets, which is important given our ambitions to help customers sell anywhere via any channel,” he says. “But they are also becoming increasingly important supply chain hubs, well-positioned geographically between Europe and Asia, and with strong transport and infrastructure.”

The bottom line, Robertz adds, is that Locad now sees itself as “a supply chain enabler for smart digital logistics”, rather than simply a fulfilment agent. “Supply chains in retail have been stagnant for decades,” he argues. “With rapid e-commerce growth and new retail models, supply chains are suddenly under significant pressure to adapt; they’ve evolved from cost centres to potential sources of competitive advantage and are a boardroom-level discussion.”

Such arguments appear to be winning investors over. Today’s Series B round was led by Global Ventures and existing investor Reefknot Investments. Sumitomo Equity Ventures and existing investors Antler Elevate, Febe Ventures and JG Summit also participated in the round.

At Global Ventures, Noor Sweid, founder and managing partner, says the company is well-placed to capitalise on the rapid evolution of consumer markets worldwide. “Locad’s innovative engine is transforming how brands manage their supply chains and enabling faster, more efficient customer reach,” he says. “That aligns with our thesis on the need for decentralised and resilient supply chains to meet today’s consumer demands.”

Marc Dragon, the managing director of Reefknot Investments, adds: “Since our Series A investment, Locad has demonstrated a strong ability to execute, scaling its asset-light fulfilment model across markets in Southeast Asia, Australia, and China, while continuously deepening its product capabilities with AI-driven features such as demand, inventory and carrier analytics and optimisation.”

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