Skip to main content

How logistics startup Beacon won backing from US tech billionaires Jeff Bezos, Eric Schmidt, and Travis Kalanick to disrupt a $140 billion industry

* Logistics startup Beacon has raised $15 million in a fundraising round backed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.  * The UK firm, which aims to disrupt the world of international freight shipping, has previously been backed by Uber founder Travis Kalanick and ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt.  * The global freight forwarding industry was valued at around $140 billion in 2016, according to data from market research firm Transport Intelligence.  * Beacon CEO Fraser Robinson told Business Insider how a "network effect" of key investors helped him bring on some of the best-known entrepreneurs in the world.  * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Beacon, the UK logistics startup aiming to disrupt the world of freight shipping, has raised $15 million in a Series A fundraising round backed by Amazon CEO and world's richest person Jeff Bezos.  Founded in 2018 by Fraser Robinson, a former senior exec at Uber, the firm is working to optimize the international shipping industry, which he says has failed to digitize in an increasingly online world.  The global freight shipping industry was valued at around $140 billion in 2016, according to research conducted by Transport Intelligence, but is expected to take a hit due to the economic effects of COVID-19.  Comparing the industry to old-school travel agents, Robinson told Business Insider: "Once upon a time, they would look at you and say: 'Why would anyone want to book a flight on their phone?'  "But where the travel industry has been completely transformed over the last 20 years, freight forwarding has been somewhat stuck in the past."  Beacon provides businesses that ship goods from abroad with an interactive dashboard, allowing them to track items from around the world, keep in touch with those carrying them, and keep on top of the relevant cashflow.  Having been recruited by Uber cofounders Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp to run the firm's EMEA operations in 2014, the pair later agreed to invest in Beacon's seed round last year – alongside former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.  "Having worked at Uber, having their validation and support was incredibly valuable," said Robinson. "And, of course, it's in their interests to introduce you to other sources of capital, so then you have this kind of network effect in action ... One investor leads to another, and then another."  Asked what it was like to have some of the biggest names in the world backing his vision, he said: "Well, none of these people is with us on a day-to-day basis, they're obviously incredibly busy people.  "On the whole, other than the publicity you receive from having them on board, I think their role is to be incredibly helpful at the right moment: by offering a very specific thing you need, or setting up an introduction."  Beacon, which currently has around 50 employees based in London, is aiming to double its headcount by the end of the year with the funds raised.  Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Why electric planes haven't taken off yet
https://bit.ly/3gO6Ntp

Popular posts from this blog

Why an early exec quit unicorn food delivery startup Deliveroo to launch a food business in the middle of a pandemic

* A former Deliveroo exec has launched a market food hall startup in the middle of COVID-19. * Dan Warne was managing director of the unicorn startup until 2019, but has now launched Sessions Market as a community food hall concept to rejuvenate UK towns after the pandemic. * Warne says he hopes to bring his experience from Deliveroo, particularly about customer behavior, to the analogue world of food halls. * The first venue, Shelter Hall on Brighton seafront, launches July 4. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. On Saturday, the UK's bars, restaurants, and cinemas will fling their doors open to customers for the first time since a strict lockdown commenced in late March. Given continued public health concerns around the coronavirus pandemic, it might be unwise to open a new food business right now. But Dan Warne, a former high-level executive at British unicorn startup Deliveroo, has launched Sessions Market, a series of community-orientated food hal...
Read more

'What is the X-Ray feature on Amazon Prime Video?': How to find and view bonus material about TV shows and movies

* X-Ray is an exclusive feature on Amazon Prime Video that displays bonus material about a show or movie, similar to the bonus features on a DVD. * X-Ray can show you information about the actors in a scene, the musical soundtrack, trivia, and more. * To activate X-Ray, you generally only need to click or tap within a video that's currently playing.   * Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories. Amazon Prime Video's X-Ray feature is, at least for now, not available on any other video streaming service. X-Ray works like the bonus features you find on a DVD or Blu-ray. With just a few clicks or taps, you can get additional information about many of the TV shows and movies on Prime Video. When you activate X-Ray, Prime displays an overlay on top of your show, offering additional information.  Check out the products mentioned in this article: Amazon Prime Video ($8.99 a month at Amazon) Roku (from $49.99 at Roku) There are several kinds of info...
Read more

Here are the 9 health-tech startups that got coronavirus stimulus loans to keep workers employed during the pandemic

* The Paycheck Protection Program, created by Congress as part of a $2 trillion coronavirus bailout, helped small businesses stay afloat as they struggled economically during the pandemic.  * Businesses were allowed to qualify for up to $10 million in loans.  * On Monday, the Trump administration released the list of companies that borrowed most of the money. We spotted some applications from health-tech companies among their ranks, many of which are backed by venture capital firms.  * Companies that applied for loans include ZocDoc, HealthTap, Bright.md, and Wildflower Health. * For more stories like this, sign up here for our healthcare newsletter, Dispensed. Health-tech startups were among the recipients of federal loans intended to help small businesses stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.  Several of the startups have raised tens of millions from venture capital firms. Still, their business models became strained amid the pandemic, they told Business Insider.  Eve...
Read more