Firm to use funds to further ease import/export
burdens for businesses to simplify moving cargo across
borders
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 13,
2021 /PRNewswire/ -- KlearNow, the smart Logistics as a
Service (LaaS) pioneer founded in 2018, raised $50M in new capital to transform broken supply
chains—simplifying and providing real-time cargo visibility to the
customs clearance and drayage processes. KlearNow's AI-powered
platform eases the worldwide supply chain disruptions that have
left businesses grappling with delays and shortages.
The Series B investment was led by Kayne Partners
Fund, the growth private equity group of Kayne Anderson
Capital Advisors, with continued participation from existing
investors including GreatPoint Ventures, Argean
Capital, and Autotech Ventures, plus new investment from
Activate Capital.
Though the global logistics market value is $8.6T, it is a highly fragmented and archaic
industry and one of the last to embrace technology and
collaborative innovation. The global pandemic has further
exacerbated supply chain bottlenecks, accelerating the need for
digital transformation.
Investors were drawn to KlearNow's platform as it eases
import/export burdens by digitizing and streamlining complex
paper-based logistics processes—reducing manual entry times and
human errors. The platform takes the digitized data to power its
customs clearance marketplace, providing an unprecedented level of
real-time end-to-end visibility, collaboration, and cost savings
for its customers.
Since its $16M Series A funding
round led by GreatPoint Ventures in January
2020, KlearNow has grown exponentially, increasing its
customer base tenfold and its monthly revenue run rate by more than
50 times. During this time, U.S.-based KlearNow has expanded into
Canada, and launched its UK
service in January 2021 to support UK
and EU businesses operating in the post-Brexit landscape.
KlearNow recently added a drayage marketplace to its smart LaaS
platform to support drayage companies facing planning and
scheduling challenges and importers demanding extended visibility.
With both customs clearance and drayage marketplaces, KlearNow
provides a single view of multi-leg shipments from port of lading
to the warehouse. The Series B investment strengthens KlearNow's
position as the go-to digital supply chain solution for businesses
that trade across borders.
"This latest round of funding enables us to aggressively
accelerate our technology development and deployment, geographical
expansion, and talent investments, helping us transform supply
chains that power commerce," said Sam
Tyagi, KlearNow Founder and CEO. "We are excited to have
strategic partners and investors with deep knowledge in this space,
and we believe that with their support, our technology can lead to
a meaningful, sustainable impact on global supply chains."
"The supply chain and logistics industry is primed for
incredible disruption in the upcoming years, and continued
investment in technology and tech-enabled infrastructure is a
critical component of the solution," said Nishita Cummings, Managing Partner and Co-Head
of Growth Equity at Kayne Partners. "KlearNow is the leading
technology partner in this space, with an advanced AI-based
platform that removes friction in moving goods across borders in an
easy, efficient, and cost-effective manner."
Ashok Krishnamurthi, Managing
Partner at GreatPoint Ventures, added, "We are more excited than
ever to have partnered with KlearNow. Digitalization has become
mission-critical for supply chain logistics. KlearNow provides
tremendous value for the supply chain logistics ecosystem,
demonstrated by the rapid adoption of its platform by importers,
transporters, brokers, and freight forwarders. We are thrilled that
KlearNow has continued to expand beyond real-time shipment
visibility, offering new unified workflows. During the pandemic
lockdowns when the world and companies needed work from home
capabilities, KlearNow stepped up, unshackling employees from the
office, scanners, and fax machines. With a smart digital solution,
supply chain logistics teams were able to work remotely from home
and leave the paper world behind. Visibility, productivity,
and sustainability are a great combination."
About KlearNow
KlearNow is transforming supply chains
with its smart Logistics as a Service (LaaS) platform that connects
data, people, processes, and organizations to enable new levels of
visibility and productivity that reduce logistics costs and create
better customer experiences. KlearNow's customs clearance and
drayage marketplaces on its AI-powered platform ease supply chain
bottlenecks by digitizing paper-based transactions and enabling
customs brokers and transporters to deliver superior real-time
visibility needs of importers, exporters, and freight
forwarders.
About Kayne Partners
Kayne Partners, the Los Angeles-based dedicated growth private
equity group of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P., leverages
its large firm resources to partner and invest in lower middle
market, privately held, high growth, enterprise software and
tech-enabled service businesses across North America. The team has developed a
durable and repeatable investment strategy and process for applying
its stage expertise through sourcing and investing in companies at
an early inflection point, adding value and scaling through organic
growth and M&A, and exiting these must-have assets to
strategics & financial sponsors. The team has experience
investing across media & telecommunications, supply chain
& logistics, financial technology, healthcare IT, security
& compliance, and business process outsourcing and automation.
For more information, please visit www.kaynepartners.com.
About Kayne
Anderson
Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P.,
founded in 1984, is a leading alternative investment management
firm focused on real estate, credit, infrastructure/energy,
renewables, and growth equity. Kayne's investment philosophy is to
pursue niches, with an emphasis on cash flow, where our knowledge
and sourcing advantages enable us to deliver above average,
risk-adjusted investment returns. As responsible stewards of
capital, Kayne's philosophy extends to promoting responsible
investment practices and sustainable business practices to create
long-term value for our investors. Kayne manages over $30 billion in assets (as of 9/30/2021) for
institutional investors, family offices, high net worth and retail
clients and employs over 325 professionals in five core offices
across the U.S.
To learn more about how KlearNow can serve your firm, please
visit www.klearnow.com.