The New Brazilian Freight Company, Frete.com, Achieves Unicorn Status

SAO PAULO, December 7, 2021 (Newswire.com) - The uproar seen today in Latin America within the road freight transport sector has created a large gap in the market, placing drivers and operations at risk. The cargo crisis in Latin America currently faces many threats due to the outdated operations model, lack of attention to technological innovation, and the inflation seen in oil prices. These economic challenges bore conflict in transport due to slowed movement in operations. While other parts of the world have developed new systems and advancements in the market, Latin America still faces many challenges with the current management, or lack thereof, in the cargo industry. These challenges currently present themselves as high idle capacity of trucks, lack of security, and increased threat towards bureaucracy. Frete.com was created with the mission of eliminating inefficiencies within the road freight transportation sector in Latin America. By connecting heavy-duty truck drivers and shippers through a digital marketplace, Frete.com helps to reduce existing excess capacity in trucks while increasing safety and eliminating bureaucracy. The platform offers payment processing, working capital, freight insurance, and truck monitoring. As a result, shippers save up to 25% in transportation costs, truck drivers increase profitability by +50% and C02 emissions are cut down by up to 50%. With Brazil being the world's third-largest road freight transport in the industry, Federico Vega, founder of Frete.com, considered its current notable inefficiency, saw a gap in the market and created a solution that would be to everyone's advantage. 

Vega became familiar with the cargo difficulties in Latin America through his time spent cycling through the Argentinean Patagonia. Vega had a vision for a disruptive solution that would change the trajectory of the cargo industry in the region. Frete.com has innovated by incorporating technology in order to bridge the gap in communication, reducing inefficiencies between drivers and carriers, increasing safety in cargo transportation, and limiting the threat of bureaucracy. This innovation has demonstrated up to 25% savings in transportation costs, expanding operations for carriers, and increasing profit for owner-operators by up to 50%.

Investments go beyond monetary value, with backers noticing the vision Vega developed, confirming the possibilities his innovations contribute to the market. "We are investing in Frete.com because we understand that the company brings innovative solutions to a gigantic market with great demand for digitalization and better services," says Carlos Medeiros, Partner of Softbank LATAM Fund in support of Frete.com. In addition to innovation, Tencent notices the team and execution that is behind Frete.com. Reid Hoffman, advisory partner for Reinvent Capital and co-founder of the professional network LinkedIn, states, "Reinvent Capital is investing in Frete.com, regarding the powerful network effect and market leadership as a unique opportunity to invest in a solution that is substantially transforming the logistics industry in the region." While Frete.com is not short of profitable characteristics, its most notable contribution is the positive influence it carries towards environmental solutions. By improving efficiency in the industry, Frete.com has generated an annual reduction of 20 million tons of CO² emissions, double that of Panama's and four times that of Uruguay. With such performance, Frete.com has seen investments of over US $200M in its Series F investment rounds and has raised over US $390M. The startup is expected to intermediate US $18.7 billion in transactions this year alone, establishing Unicorn Status since its inception.

With Frete.com on the map, 615,000 truckers are actively registered, representing 40% of the truck fleet in Brazil, with 80,000 users posting loads monthly. Since the company's mobile app development, the group has seen two million downloads and 1.7 million trips executed monthly, covering over 95% of Brazil's terrain. By increasing the number of carriers and truck drivers, the quality of transactions increases, improving accuracy and better security for users and team members alike. These solutions additionally support the development of job opportunities, foreshadowing growth from 1,300 to 3,500 employees by the end of 2022.

We can anticipate Frete.com to contribute many solutions as the next leading freight and cargo group in Latin America. As the group hits the ground running with innovation, streamlined solutions are expected to make a notable difference in the efficiency and productivity in the industry worldwide, making notable advances as it moves into the market joining the Unicorn Company fleet.

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Source: Frete.com