Freight Tech Startup GoodShip Raises $5M Seed Round Co-Led by Ironspring Ventures and Chicago Ventures to Bring Enriched Analytics and Actionability to Transportation Procurement

May 04, 2023 at 12:00 PM EDT

After emerging from stealth and announcing a FreightWaves SONAR partnership, GoodShip, founded by industry experts from Coyote, Convoy, and Stord, adds $5M in a seed funding round to expand their shipper platform.

GoodShip, a collaborative cloud-based analytics and transportation procurement platform for shippers, announced a $5M seed round today. The raise brings GoodShip’s total funding to $7.4M and was co-led by Ironspring Ventures and Chicago Ventures, with continued participation from FUSE VC and Cercano Management. The round builds upon previous or continuing investments from the founders and executives of several industry-leading tech companies including FreightWaves founder Craig Fuller, Project44 Founder Jett McCandless, Convoy founder Dan Lewis, and Stord founder Sean Henry, among others. GoodShip will use the funds to accelerate development of new bid management features, refine and expand its AI-powered smart recommendation engine, and scale go-to-market efforts for mid-market and enterprise shippers.

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The GoodShip Shipper Dashboard (Photo: Business Wire)

“Modern supply chains generate vast amounts of data, but so much of that data is inaccessible and underutilized, limiting shippers’ ability to respond swiftly and effectively when market rates shift or carrier performance deteriorates,” said Ryan Soskin, Co-Founder and CEO of GoodShip. “GoodShip is the command center that unifies data from each customer’s tech ecosystem — TMS (transportation management system) tender data, contract award data, location data — enriches it with real-time pricing from partners like FreightWaves SONAR, then provides the tools to make that information instantly actionable directly from the platform. Service and price are both optimized in a systematic, data-driven way that also enhances collaboration with carriers by establishing clear expectations and a real-time scorecard for ongoing alignment.”

GoodShip’s definitive, shared source of truth unifies and contextualizes shippers’ disparate data sources, streamlining business check-ins for shippers and carrier partners. The result is more constructive meetings focused on resolving issues and identifying new opportunities rather than unpacking and defending conflicting performance data, and an emphasis on collaborative, multiplayer experiences for shippers and carriers leading to better outcomes across the board.

“Human relationships are the most crucial links in any supply chain,” said Kristy Brutsman, Director at Armstrong Transport. "Shared performance visibility makes those relationships productive and unambiguous. Shippers need to be able to trust carriers with their freight, and GoodShip provides carriers with objective proof of their quality to build trust with current customers and future prospects."

Leveraging GoodShip's Insights and Procurement features, shipper customers have already realized significant performance improvements and cost savings. Over the past 6 months, late deliveries to requested delivery date (RDD) have decreased by 20%, while total freight spend has been reduced by 3-5% on average, translating to millions in savings annually.

“We greatly value the partnership we have with GoodShip,” said Tim Worona, Vice President, Supply Chain Planning and Logistics Systems at Utz Brands, Inc. “The platform allows us to combine detailed analytics, procurement events, and carrier development into a single tool in a way we haven’t seen elsewhere in the market. In addition to the platform itself, the GoodShip team are true collaborative partners who understand the needs of shippers.”

After multiple years of global supply chain disruption stemming from the pandemic, trade tensions, and reshoring, demand for industry-specific tooling has increased dramatically. In 2021, Gartner reported that 87% of senior supply chain executives planned to invest in resilience over the next two years.

“We’re seeing a shift in the SaaS landscape toward industry verticalization and away from generic horizontal plays,” said Ty Findley, newly joined GoodShip Board Member and Co-Founder and General Partner at Ironspring Ventures. “Industry leaders want solutions designed by and for industry leaders who understand the challenges unique to transportation procurement, especially when facing disruption and volatility. GoodShip’s team, partnerships, and platform all reflect their deep roots in freight and, consequently, an even deeper understanding of what transportation procurement products enterprise supply chains need to create resilience and thrive in a post-pandemic world.”

“Real-time data is only as valuable as an organization’s ability to act on that data in real-time,” said Peter Christman, Partner at Chicago Ventures. “By marrying AI-powered recommendations with the tools to execute on procurement all in one collaborative platform, it’s possible to achieve a level of agility, resilience, and visibility that is not possible with spreadsheets or generic solutions. GoodShip’s offering is wholly unique and perfectly timed to reshape the digital logistics landscape.”