Capital infusion to fund development of e-commerce portal
INTTRA, the carrier-owned portal for ocean-freight bookings, is getting a fresh capital infusion that will enable it to develop new electronic commerce services for new markets.
ABS Capital Partners, a capital fund that specializes in later-stage growth companies, has invested $30 million in INTTRA and is taking a majority stake in it.
INTTRA will use these funds to further develop its platform for electronic invoicing and to roll out a new product that will enable shippers to make bookings and instructions with non-vessel-operating common carriers.
“ABS Capital’s investment will give us the financial strength to accelerate our business plans and operations,” said INTTRA CEO Ken Bloom.
He said INTTRA’s search for new investment was started by its board more than two years ago before the onset of recession.
via www.joc.com
The INTTRA ocean portal is one of two major carrier neutral portals for booking, documentation and tracking of ocean freight.
Originally backed by European ocean carriers such as Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, the portal has grown in sophistication and breadth of membership.
A number of leading NVOCC's including DHL Global Forwarding, Panalpina and UTi, also belong to the portal as a way to provide a common user interface to ocean customers who want a one stop shop for eCommerce.
The ABS investment is interesting because (as far as I know), this is the first VC investment into the portal. Given that the portal is backed by several of the worlds largest ocean carriers, the investment must be viewed as relatively safe. However for cash strapped ocean carriers, this has to be seen as a major win in divesting the majority stake in a non-core business whilst still keeping the portal and its inherent economic benefits intact.
Venture Capitalists are not known for their long term views nor holdings, so it will be interesting to see how a VC dominant position on the INTTRA board changes the direction of the company over time. As a late stage investor, ABS may intend to hold the investment for a longer period, but one wonders what the eventual exit strategy of a VC would be in an ocean portal?
Eric
Interesting... e-shipping at its best huh.
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Posted by: Steven Johnson | May 05, 2010 at 01:19 PM
Eric
good reporting
send this to the NYTIMES travel and see if they pick up on both your excellent article..
very timely as travel set to return..we shud charge them a bag fee when they bag up our local printers with their media adds- in color no less !! regards
Bill Connor PONL Paramus NJ
connorb@portno.com
Posted by: bill connor - paramus NJ (william connor inlinkedIN | April 27, 2010 at 01:25 PM