This 22-year old startup founder just raised $10 million to help small businesses ship products around the globe

Fleet, an Oregon-based startup started by a 22-year old founder has just raised $10 million  to help small and midsized businesses ship or import products around the globe. The funding is led by the German airline Lufthansa. Fleet has has now raised $14 million in total funding to date. The story of Fleet is an inspiring one. At the age of 14 when other kids are playing video games, Max Lock was looking for a job to do.  Fleet is the industry’s first global distribution system (GDS). Fleet’s GDS links rates, automates bookings and documentation for shippers and their logistics providers on a single, seamless platform.

Fleet is designed to match up smaller businesses with freight forwarders by requesting quotes online and compare alternatives. The startup aims to make the complex world of international shipping easier to navigate for shippers of any size. With our transparent, easy-to-use platform, we empower businesses to make well-informed decisions in choosing the right service providers based on price, transit time and reliability. For the first time ever, shippers can do everything all in one place: from researching and choosing logistics service providers, to making payment and receiving goods. The Fleet platform provides a seamless experience for business owners to manage all of their importation and exportation online.

Fleet comes with a lot of features and it is very easy to use. On their online platforms, the quotes are laid out so you know exactly what you’re being charged. Customers can also read real reviews from people to figure out who you can trust with your cargo. We make freight forwarding companies less mysterious. The platform comes with a great messaging and chat feature to get to know freight forwarders and ask them any question about their services or charges.

So, How did it all start? Instead of going to college after high school, Max Lock decided to start his company. Before starting Fleet, Max Lock founded an organic ice cream company called School Boy Ice Cream and a paper and plastic importer called Intergreen Distributors. He started Fleet in 2014, the year he graduated from a Pennsylvania high school, and that same year the company was a finalist in a startup competition sponsored by the online journal TechCrunch (Fleet was then called Shipstr.).

Fleet currently has  17 employees. The company plans to use the new investment to add marketing and operations personnel as the company works to build a growing business on top of its underlying technology.