Founded 2 years ago in Brazil by Ticket’s Group, the marketplace for the freight market has more than 125,000 truckers and 300,000 registered trucks, in addition to intermediating 150,000 tons of cargo through 3,500 matches per day. Alongside this Seed round that brings new investors, Freto appoints Thomas Gautier as new CEO.
New investment for a new horizon
With the goal of becoming the largest matching platform in Latin America, Freto (founded 2 years ago in Brazil) has just raised a $4.4 million (R$22.5m) Seed round and announces a new phase of operation, fully independent from the founding group, Ticket.
Freto, which connects autonomous carriers or fleet owners with shippers, was born as an intrapreneurial solution with the purpose of simplifying road logistics, moving truck drivers. In 2020, Freto’s revenue almost tripled and the volume of matches between carriers and shippers grew 146% YoY. With autonomy, agility and an attractive platform, it shows great potential to grow in a competitive market and sustain a strong, leading positioning.
Edenred Capital participated in the round led by the Corrêa da Silva and Stumpf families, entrepreneurs from Rio Grande do Sul who founded successful companies in Brazil, such as Getnet, Embratec, Saque e Pague and Banco Topázio. Also participating are Quartz Investimentos, the Venture Capital firm founded by Christiano Galló. Edenred Capital will have the important role of supporting Freto in the logistics ecosystem, especially in its second phase of development: conquering international markets.
This is Edenred Capital’s first investment in Brazil, having so far invested in the UK, France, Switzerland, Israel and the US, typically in Seed, Series A and Series B rounds. The Venture Capital firm has been active in the B2B Mobility space, having also invested in Fretlink (French digital freight forwarder) and Avrios (Swiss fleet management platform) in the past 2 years.
Accelerated growth in the context of the pandemic
The round takes place at a time of accelerated growth for Freto and in a positive context for companies that bring innovative solutions for cargo in the transport sector, which has been attracting increasingly more Venture Capital investment. Freto already stands out as one of the main marketplaces in the Brazilian road market and a unique matching platform in the sector: it currently has more than 125,000 truckers and 300,000 registered trucks, in addition to intermediating 150,000 tons of cargo through 3,500 matches per day. Freto is planning to land in other Latin American countries next year, such as Argentina, Mexico and Colombia.
“We are seeing the similarities between Brazil and other countries, understanding the particularities of each one and also looking at where we can add more value”, says Thomas Gautier, CEO of Freto. "The injection we received gives us a boost for this new moment and towards a horizon for which we have the ambition of becoming the largest platform in Latin America", says the executive.
Freto's new CEO held various positions as director at Edenred
To lead Freto, Thomas Gautier takes over as CEO after 10 years at Edenred. Having started his career in France, Gautier arrived at Repom in 2013 as CFO and became General Director in 2017. He was appointed Head of the Road Market in Brazil in 2018 when, during his management, Freto was born.
“We built from scratch an innovation that connects the truck driver directly to the industry, guided by digitalization and with the purpose of simplifying road logistics, moving truck drivers. We believe in a more human logistics market, made by people and for people, that adds value to the shipper by transforming and simplifying its way of doing logistics, and that values more and more truck drivers, who work in a difficult context, carrying Brazil on their shoulders and transporting the wealth of our country. They are the true heroes of the roads”, says Gautier.