Danish container shipping major A.P. Moller – Maersk has unveiled its investment in Australian tech startup Ofload (formerly called Loadsmile). Through its venture arm Maersk Growth it has, together with Germany’s Global Founders Capital (GFC), provided A$2.8 million in seed funding to Ofload. This joins Ofload’s pre-seed investor, Flash Ventures.
The international container shipping company Maersk Line, founded in 1928, is the largest operating subsidiary of the Maersk Group, a Danish business conglomerate. It is the world’s largest container shipping company by both fleet size and cargo capacity, serving 374 offices in 116 countries. It employs approximately 31,600 people, of which 7,000 are shipping crew and 24,600 processing personnel. The line operates over 786 vessels and has a capacity of 4.1 million TEU (Twenty-foot equivalent unit).
Sydney-based Ofload was founded in February this year by former HelloFresh head of operations, Geoffroy Henry. It connects small and medium-size carriers with shippers, with the aim to deliver shipments more quickly and affordably by taking up what would have been empty space in delivery vehicles.
A spokesperson said, “All supply chain stakeholders will benefit from Ofload’s technology, not least shippers looking to reduce their carbon footprint, as empty truck moves will be optimised.†According to Ofload, the strategic support from Maersk, and the fresh capital will help further fuel the company’s journey towards eliminating waste from the road freight industry. “As part of this opportunity our business has re-branded to Ofload to better reflect our mission as a company: to offload the trucking industry of waste and increase transparency,†they explained.
Since 1993, Maersk has developed a range of services connecting major Australian ports to their global network, with their head office located in Sydney and staff based in Adelaide, Brisbane, Fremantle and Melbourne.
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