Freightos acquires Shipsta, expands freight procurement solution

Freightos announced the acquisition of Shipsta, a leading freight tender procurement platform used by dozens of global 1000 enterprises to procure freight at scale from leading freight forwarders and carriers.

The transaction expands Freightos’s existing spot pricing, quoting and booking capabilities by adding tender procurement, thereby advancing Freightos’s vision of comprehensive freight digitisation and meaningfully increasing its total addressable market, both in ocean and contract procurement, says an official release. "This acquisition accelerates Freightos’ growth, supports its financial goals of achieving positive adjusted EBITDA by the end of 2026 with available funds while strengthening its market position as a technology leader in the global freight industry."

Shipsta, headquartered in Luxembourg, supports the freight procurement of global companies by streamlining the tender management and procurement processes across air, ocean, road, and rail, enabling companies to easily solicit tenders from their freight forwarders and carriers. Shipsta technology serves dozens of multinational organisations including Puma, Thyssenkrupp and Rockwool, the release added.

“The acquisition of Shipsta is a strategic milestone for Freightos, enabling us to advance our vision of digitising the freight industry end-to-end,” says Zvi Schreiber, CEO, Freightos. “Shipsta’s platform, outstanding customer roster and experienced team will add significant value to our offering by introducing tender management and contract procurement – a segment representing an estimated 50-70 percent of the total air and ocean freight market. The acquisition addresses the needs of our importers, exporters, forwarders and carriers that seek comprehensive solutions beyond spot freight bookings and sales and we think customers will love the joint offering. We’re also excited to welcome Shipsta’s outstanding talent into the Freightos team.”

Shipsta’s team, led by Christian Wilhelm and Stefan Maratzki, will continue to lead Shipsta’s product development, innovation, customer success and go-to-market strategy. Shipsta’s current team will join Freightos, and parts of Shipsta’s roadmap will be accelerated to further enhance tender management, provide improved operational integrations and expand on market intelligence capabilities, the release added.

“Joining forces with Freightos marks a thrilling new chapter for Shipsta,” says Wilhelm, MD and Founder, Shipsta. “Shipsta and Freightos share a mission to bring global freight online. Now, our customers will continue to benefit from the outstanding Shipsta product and team, with service and efficiency further enhanced, while driving new efficiencies to the thousands of forwarders that leverage Freightos and WebCargo by Freightos. Together, we expect to accelerate market penetration, drive innovation, and set new industry standards in freight.”

The consideration includes a cash payment of approximately €4.5 million and the issuance of approximately 640,000 Freightos shares to a key Shipsta shareholder, subject to adjustment for working capital and customary holdbacks, the release added.

"Shipsta is expected to contribute approximately $800,000 to Freightos’s revenue during the last four months of 2024 with a moderate negative impact on adjusted EBITDA. Revenue contribution in 2025 is expected to be between $4-5 million."