Founder and former CEO of Forager Matt Silver announced Monday the start of Cargado, a new venture aimed at creating a seamless platform for U.S.-Mexico cross-border logistics.
The startup, which has already secured $3 million in pre-seed funding, “will address the unique challenges of moving freight between the U.S. and Mexico using innovative new technology,” Silver said.
“There are a lot of other companies that are starting to look at either buying Mexican companies or investing in leadership, and we think right now is the perfect time for Cargado,” Silver told FreightWaves. “As more and more logistics providers get involved in Mexico, more trucking companies get involved, more shippers get involved, we believe that there’s going to be a need for more tailored software, more tailored technology, that helps support that entire process and the entire ecosystem.”
Silver declined to reveal how Cargado will specifically operate in the cross-border space for the moment, but he said the sector is ripe for logistics technology innovation.
“We have a deep understanding of the industry and how cross-border freight works, and we have a lot of relationships across the industry,” Silver said. “Our goal is to help connect everything and help bring everything online.”
Cargado officials plan to use the $3 million to build out the initial team and technology and launch the product at the end of first quarter to a select group of beta users.
Rylan Hawkins is the co-founder and chief technology officer of Cargado. Hawkins was one of the founding engineers at Convoy, where he served as general manager for two of their most successful programs — Convoy Go and Convoy for Brokers. Prior to working at Convoy, Hawkins was a senior program manager at Microsoft.
Hawkins said he was attracted to helping start Cargado after taking a trip with Silver to Laredo, Texas. The Laredo port of entry is currently the No. 1 international gateway for trade in the U.S.
“One of the first things we did was head down to Laredo, where it was made abundantly clear that the U.S. is really shifting its supply chain to Mexico from China,” Hawkins wrote in a LinkedIn post. “When starting a company, one of the things I’ve seen and learned is that it’s wonderful when you can join a market that has a natural current pulling you forward. Cross-border freight with Mexico seems to be just that.”
Cargado’s pre-seed round was led by Ty Findley, co-founder and general partner at Ironspring Ventures, and was supported by Zenda Capital, Nichole Wischoff of Wischoff Ventures, Proeza Ventures and Sahil Bloom, with contributions from dozens of other professionals across the logistics and technology sectors. FreightWaves founder and CEO, Craig Fuller also invested in the round.
“In order for the renewed attention on making North American supply chains more resilient to succeed, our close trade partners in Mexico have to also succeed in advancing their nearshoring supply chain capabilities,” Findley said in a statement. “Between Matt’s and Rylan’s experiences, there could not be a more tailor-made founding duo than them to take this on.”
More articles by Noi Mahoney
Nearshoring forecast to boost US-Mexico trade in 2024
Venture capital continues to flow into FreightTech startups
Mexico top US trade partner in November, Laredo No. 1 gateway