Ex Goldman, Rothschild MD leads raise for logistics tech start-up
The pre-Christmas deals keep rolling in. Street Talk understands Ofload, a digital road freight provider, has ruled off a $27 million financing round to accelerate its push to digitalise Australia’s logistics industry.
Sources said David Acton’s Yarra Private Capital Discovery Fund led the round, while existing investors Sydney-based venture capital firm King River Capital and Jungle Ventures, one of Singapore’s largest venture capital funds, also tipped in.
Proceeds will be used to fund ongoing investment in technology, bring on additional staff and make acquisitions.
Former Goldman Sachs and Rothschild equity capital markets banker David Acton leads Yarra Capital Management’s private markets strategy. Oscar Colman
This represents Yarra’s second investment from the fund, which has also backed legal industry software group ATI Global – the entity that owns InfoTrack and Leap Legal. Private Capital Discovery closed a $100 million-plus raise in 2022. The fund focuses on minority equity in late-stage private businesses and intends to make two to four investments per year for the next two years.
This is likely to be Ofload’s final funding push with expectations that it will remain in private hands for at least the next two to three years. Yarra is understood to have picked up a board seat in the process alongside King River Capital and Jungle Ventures.
Acquisition firepower
Ofload has closed one of the largest local capital raises since the tech correction hit in November 2022, banking $60 million in Series B funding amid growing demand for its service that sells access to empty truck space. Although two-thirds of the raise was equity, one-third was made up of debt provided by Liquidity Group fund Mars Growth, used to fund acquisitions.
The company, formerly called Loadsmile, was co-founded by former HelloFresh head of operations Geoffroy Henry. It connects small and medium-sized carriers with transport operators, enabling shipments to be delivered more quickly and affordably by taking up what would have been empty space in delivery vehicles. Some of its largest clients include Kimberly Clark Australia, Metcash, Noumi and Asahi.
Other investors include Flexport and Bay Grove as well as Lineage Ventures, Maersk Growth, Global Founders Capital, Flash Ventures and Foundamental.
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