Indonesia-based logistics startup Kargo has raised a US$7.6 million seed funding round led by Sequoia Capital India. Among the companies participating in the funding were Travis Kalanick’s 10100 fund; Pandu Sjahrir’s Agaeti Ventures; Patrick Walujo, co-founder of Northstar Group; Intudo Ventures; Zhenfund; ATM Capital; and Innoven Capital.
Kargo, which was founded in 2018 by CEO Tiger Fang, said it aims to make freight logistics industry more efficient, transparent, and accountable by using a platform that enables shippers,
transporters, and truckers to connect, transact, and track shipments.
Fang earlier launched Uber’s operations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and managed operations in Indonesia and Western China. He was also part of the founding management team at Lazada Thailand
and Vietnam.
The participation in the funding of ousted Uber Technologies CEO Travis Kalanick through his 10100 venture fund, is his first known investment in an Asian startup. Kalanick stepped down as Uber's
CEO under a cloud of scandal in mid-2017 but remains on its board as a co-founder.
Logistics to increase nearly eightfold
Kargo's co-founder and CEO Fang helped begin Uber service in Jakarta back in 2014. Fang later spent nearly two years as Uber's country general manager for Indonesia before leaving to start
Kargo.
The Indonesian logistics sector is expected to grow to US$240 billion by 2021, according to India-based market research firm Ken Research.
A Nikkei report said that Indonesia's logistics sector will also be an important link in the country's growing e-commerce sector. The online commerce market there will grow as much as eightfold
from 2017 to between US$55 billion and US$65 billion in spending by 2022, US consultancy McKinsey & Co. projected in a 2018 report.
Nol van Fenema
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