Israeli fintech startup Wisor AI bags $8M Seed funding to transform the $23 trillion global supply chain market

The world is more global than ever. An estimated 80% of global goods are transported via ocean freight while air freight represents more than 35% of global trade by value, but less than 1% of trade by volume. Today there are roughly 300,000 freight forwarders globally, including 100,000 in the US alone, handling $23.3 trillion in goods delivered to consumers.

The global scale of this market also presents an opportunity to transform the freight forwarding market. This huge market is ripe for disruption, as it lacks the tools and technology required to bring forwarding operations into the digital era. That’s where today’s tech startup comes in.

Enter Wisor AI, an Israeli fintech startup focused on empowering freight forwarders to compete in a challenging environment suffering from high price volatility and reliance on outdated manual processes.

Founded by Raz Ronen, Co-founder & CEO, Ido Karavany, Co-founder & CTO; and Eiran Bolless, Co-founder & VP of Data & Analytics, Wisor’s innovative AI-powered technology helps move global freight in a click, with the aim to digitize the freight industry, lower costs, and increase efficiency.

Wisor’s platform also provides its global customers with a one-stop solution that organically integrates into their existing systems and workflows. By digitizing routing, pricing, and quoting, the platform would also be able to extend to additional value-added services such as payments, financing, and insurance.

Today, Wisor announced it has raised $8 million in a seed funding round led by Team8, with participation from Ocean Azul and Hico Investment Group, as well as pre-seed investors fresh.fund, Atooro Fund, The Dock, Seed IL Ventures, and Izaki Ventures. Wisor will use the fresh capital infusion to expedite its mission to digitize the global supply chain industry and empower freight forwarders to plan, price, and book a shipment in seconds instead of hours or days.

Commenting on the funding, Wisor CEO Ronen said: “As an entrepreneur, I am fascinated by traditional industries that still heavily rely on manual processes and legacy tools. The complexity of supply chain management has become pronounced in recent years due to global disruptions caused by COVID-19. Wisor found a way to digitize this industry without requiring freight forwarders to fundamentally change the way they operate today, making the adoption seamless while enjoying the benefits of digitization.”

Amid recent sectoral innovations geared towards different players in the value chain such as marketplaces and digital-first freight companies, Wisor has developed a software solution tailored specifically to the needs of freight forwarders themselves – the ones servicing the majority of freight volume today.

Wisor’s plug-and-play solution automates both the cumbersome, manual process of aggregating pricing data as well as the optimization of shipping routes across the global freight ecosystem, including airlines, ocean liners, trucking, and rail companies. This allows freight forwarders to do more with less, improving response rates and freeing the capacity to grow their business. In addition to pricing automation, Wisor’s advanced algorithms continuously optimize pricing in the background – even after the booking has been placed – presenting further opportunities for freight forwarders to cut costs and improve their margins.

Wisor’s platform provides its global customers with a one-stop solution that organically integrates into their existing systems and workflows. By digitizing routing, pricing, and quoting, the platform would also be able to extend to additional value-added services such as payments, financing, and insurance.

“Team8 is excited to lead the seed funding round for Wisor AI in order to support their mission to bring the supply chain into the digital era,” said Hadar Siterman Norris Partner at Team8 Capital. “With a clear vision to offer an end-to-end solution for all freight forwarding processes, Wisor is uniquely positioned to become a key player in this large, highly fragmented, and increasingly complex industry. We are looking forward to working with Raz, Eiran, Ido, and the Wisor team, who bring years of expertise in supply chain management, machine learning, data, and AI to the table.”