Container logistics startup Matchlog raises USD 3 mn from Blue Ashva Capital, others

MatchLog, a container logistics optimisation platform, has raised USD 3 million (around Rs 22.3 crore) in a funding round from venture capital fund Blue Ashva Capital, Rainmatter Climate, and early-stage investor Capital-A.

The capital raised in the pre-Series A round will be deployed to develop Matchlog’s platform further for AI and machine learning-based pairing of cargo, grow the multi-modal share in addition to road transport and expand its footprint to more ports around the world, the startup said in a statement on Wednesday. “We will be expanding to the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asian markets over the next 12-18 months. We aim to help reduce at least 100 million tonnes of carbon over the coming five years,” Dhruv Taneja, founder of Matchlog, said.

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Matchlog is among the first to offer a tool to turnaround a container from an import to export cycle in a scalable manner, thereby eliminating unnecessary empty runs to and from the container yards. Satya Bansal, founder of Blue Ashva Capital said, decarbonisation is one of the key challenges the shipping industry faces globally. Efficient turnaround of containers and reduction of empty haulage can bring efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, which can lead to realising better sustainability goals.

Matchlog claims that its work will result in significant fuel savings and directly contribute to the decarbonisation goals of the shipping industry. In 2021 alone, Matchlog saved over 1 million kg of carbon emission through its efforts and it works with leading custom house agents, freight forwarders and transporters that ensures higher adaptability and acceptance by the trade at large, it said. It can be noted that at present, when a shipping container comes to the country, it is de-stuffed at the importer’s location and is brought back empty to the container yard to close the import cycle for the shipping line.

These empty containers are again picked up from the yards and brought to the exporter’s location for stuffing and finally loaded onto the ship for export. This leads to multiple redundant legs wasting a lot of fuel and time. In our country alone it is estimated that there are over 17 million empty trips annually leading to over USD 2 billion worth of fuel wastage and 2 million tonnes of carbon emissions.