Jeff Bezos has invested in a British start-up that is planning to use digital technology to disrupt the global logistics industry. Beacon has raised $15 million in a funding round, bringing the Amazon mastermind alongside current investors that include Uber founder Travis Kalanick and former Google chairman Eric Schmidt. Mr Bezos was the second-largest investor in the round after US venture capital firm 8VC, which is understood to value the UK business at close to $60 million. The group, founded by former Uber executives Fraser Robinson and Dmitri Izmailov, combines supply chain finance with technology to find the most cost-effective shipping routes for cargo. The company hopes that offering both services together will help it to gain a foothold in two industries worth $13 trillion annually… Beacon uses real-time data to track cargo, as well as a marketplace service that allows it to view shipping costs and prices, overlaid by an algorithm that projects the best routes to take. The company also offers supply chain finance, a service it claims is unique among freight forwarding businesses… The company is also banking on the coronavirus pandemic to drive demand, as the fragility of supply lines across the world was laid bare when factories across the world were closed because of the outbreak.?

Peter Campbell