Flexport Inc., a startup working to bring the multitrillion-dollar freight transport industry into the cloud computing age, today announced that it has secured a staggering $1 billion funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund.

The investment is the latest in a series of big bets that the Japanese carrier has made in the logistics sector. SoftBank earlier this month led a $940 million round into Nuro Inc., a startup using autonomous vehicles to pick up groceries for consumers. Last March, it joined forces with Sequoia Capital and a few other funds to inject $533 million into food delivery unicorn DoorDash Inc. at a $1.4 billion valuation.

Today’s round makes Flexport one of the most valuable companies in the bunch, with the startup now reportedly worth $3.2 billion. Flexport operates a cloud-based platform that enables organizations to centrally manage the movement of goods throughout their global supply chains.

The service provides the ability to book shipments by sea and air, as well as manage the numerous secondary steps involved in transporting cargo internationally. Companies can submit specifications to suppliers, review invoices and generate performance reports. Flexport also provides a real-time cargo tracking feature that shows the location of a company’s containers on a map during transit.

“By bringing together everyone – importers, exporters, ocean carriers, airlines, warehouses, trucking companies, and customs brokerages – on one platform … Flexport and the OS for Global Trade give businesses what they’ve never had before with their freight forwarders: deep visibility and control from origin to destination,” Flexport Chief Executive Ryan Petersen wrote in a blog post.

The startup claims to have grown revenues by 110 percent last year to $471 million  Flexport counts the likes of publicly-traded speaker maker Sonos Inc. and Ring, Amazon.com Inc.’s smart home division, among its customers. 

The new capital will enable Flexport to continue expanding at the rapid pace it has maintained so far. The startup intends to open more warehouses to support shipments and will grow its 1,000-plus-person workforce with a focus on hiring more software engineers. As part of the push, Flexport will open a new technical hub in Chicago to speed up product development. 

Photo: Flexport