NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Leaf Logistics, a machine learning-based transportation platform that connects shippers, carriers, and other logistics partners, today announced that it has raised $37M in Series B funding. The round was led by Sozo Ventures, with participation from Madrona Venture Group, as well as previous investors including Playground Global, Floodgate, Schematic Ventures, and Supply Chain Ventures. Notable individual investors joining the round include the founding teams at Flexport and The Intercontinental Exchange. The fresh capital will be used to fuel significant hiring plans and scale product development and commercial deployment. This milestone comes after a 10x annual revenue increase and the growth of its nationwide transportation network to more than $23 billion in data.
Today, more than 30% of the trucks on roads ride empty, representing immense waste in the industry. When participants coordinate across the Leaf platform, over 20% in efficiencies can be identified in this $800 billion industry. This allows shippers to lower their cost structure, carriers and brokers to generate more revenue, and dramatically reduces the number of empty trucks on the road and the associated excess carbon emissions.
The Leaf platform brings together shippers, transportation providers, and other logistics partners to deliver resilient transportation planning and a forward view of the market to help navigate supply chain uncertainty. Leaf Adapt technology offers shippers continuous network optimization to build more efficient routes and moves that increase driver utilization and decrease empty miles, while Leaf Flex committed contracting allows users to engage in the network in a forward-planning capacity. This latest round of funding will accelerate the growth of the Leaf platform and unlock increased value for the entire network, which includes participation from more than 425 consumer goods, retail, food and beverage, and manufacturing shippers, as well as more than 550 carriers.
“Transportation is one of the largest expenses for most corporations, and it suffers from what is fundamentally a coordination problem that is limited today by the existing tools and processes. We started Leaf to address this by building our platform to be the transportation network of the future. This investment brings us one step closer to our goal to plan and schedule more than 90% of the transportation bought and sold in the U.S.,” said Anshu Prasad, CEO of Leaf Logistics. “We’ve built a forward-looking view of the industry that helps all participants better coordinate their transportation and eliminate waste in the form of empty miles. Doing so radically improves productivity across the industry so providers can grow their businesses, shippers can rein in costs and gain more predictability, and we can all benefit from fewer wasteful CO2 emissions.”
“The logistics industry has been ready for innovation on this scale for some time, but the right approach hasn’t been possible until now. What Leaf is doing — building a highly-connected and forward-looking view of the industry from the ground up — just can’t be done by incumbents operating within the existing constructs of the industry,” said Spencer Foust, Managing Director at Sozo Ventures. “Its fresh coordination-first approach has resonated with industry leaders who see the incredible value that comes from network coordination at scale and the efficiency it brings.”
Leaf has seen rapid adoption of its platform in the past year as companies have experienced a strained supply chain, and the need for a new, more resilient solution that can meet shippers’ dynamic needs has become essential. The launch of its Adapt technology has helped shippers realize 10%+ in productivity gains while drastically reducing excess CO2 emissions associated with empty miles. Leaf also saw expanded use of its Flex committed contracting to offer a new way to build reliable business with guaranteed freight and routes. The Leaf platform has seen continued growth with new products and capabilities, such as precision insurance, that are only possible with this unique cross-industry view. Headquartered in New York, the Leaf global team is expected to double in size in 2022.
About Leaf
Leaf Logistics was founded in 2017 with the mission to improve transportation planning through strategic use of data analytics and machine learning. The Leaf platform connects shippers, providers, and partners to gain network efficiencies and unlock a forward view of tomorrow's transportation market. Today, Leaf technologies like the Leaf Adapt continuous optimization solution and Leaf Flex committed contracts allow users to engage in the network and build their most resilient transportation plan. Join us at leaflogistics.com.
