The second quarter marked multiple milestones for Freightos, a digital booking and payment platform for the international freight industry.

The company announced its acquisition of Shipsta, a freight-tender procurement platform that dozens of Global 1000 enterprises use to procure freight at scale from freight forwarders and carriers. Shipsta adds tender procurement to Freightos’s services in spot freight pricing, quoting services.

In addition, Freightos reported record Q2 revenue of $5.7 million and a record 316,500 transactions, as gross booking value grew 31% to over $200 million.

Freightos now covers spot freight and tendering services

Spot freight pricing, quoting and booking relates to moving freight at the current market price. By comparison, in tender procurement, or tendering, a buyer invites suppliers to submit proposals to provide goods or services. The buyer then selects a supplier to meet their needs across air, ocean, road and rail shipments.

Now Freightos will serve both markets.

“This transaction expands Freightos’s existing industry-leading spot pricing, quoting, and booking capabilities by adding tender procurement, thereby advancing Freightos’s  vision of comprehensive freight digitization and meaningfully increasing its total addressable market, both in ocean and contract procurement,” Freightos said when announcing the Shipsta acquisition on Aug. 19.ceO

Zvi Schreiber, CEO, Freightos

“Our robust second quarter performance underscores the growing strength and adoption of our platform in the international freight market,” CEO Zvi Schreiber said in the company’s Q2 financial report.

He added that the acquisition of Shipsta “marks a significant milestone in our journey to digitalize freight booking and procurement, by expanding our footprint in global freight tenders. Building on our first quarter momentum, we’ve continued to focus on high-value initiatives and strategic expansion.”

Freightos is acquiring Shipsta in a cash and equity deal, including a cash payment of approximately €4.5 million (US$5.0 million) and approximately 640,000 Freightos shares. Freightos said Shipsta is expected to contribute approximately $800,000 to Freightos’ revenue during the last four months of 2024, with a moderate negative impact on Adjusted EBITDA. Revenue contribution in 2025 is expected to be between $4 million and $5 million.

Shipsta’s management team, led by Christian Wilhelm and Stefan Maratzki, will continue to lead Shipsta’s product development, innovation, customer success, and go-to-market strategy, Freightos said.

Freightos gross booking value surges 31%

Freightos said Q2 gross booking value increased 31% to $203.4 million. The company attributed the “outperformance” in GBV mostly to the sustained high freight rates that continue to be driven by the Red Sea crisis.

The number of carriers selling on the platform, primarily on Freightos’ WebCargo unit, increased to 51. Among the recent carrier additions is Singapore Airlines, the addition of which was announced in May. Freightos also recently announced the addition of Coyne Airways and Thai Airways to its platform.

The number of unique buyers digitally booking freight services across the Freightos Platform grew 16% to 19,100.

For the second quarter ended Jume 30, Freightos reported:

• Revenue increased 11% from the year-earlier quarter to $5.7 million.
• Gross margin of 64.9%, up from 57.3% in the second quarter of 2023, under international financial reporting standards, or IFRS. Non-IFRS gross margin was 72.0%, up from 65.0% for the second quarter of 2023.
• A record 316,500 transactions, up 32%, marking the 18th consecutive quarter of record transactions. Global air cargo volumes according to International Air Transport Association (IATA) data grew 15%, and global ocean shipping volumes grew 6%.
• An IFRS operating loss of $4.6 million narrowed from $5.9 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA of negative 3.1 million, narrowed from a negative $5.3 million.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. [email protected].

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