Next47’s Investment in Pando: Pioneering the Future of Logistics
By Lak Ananth, Global Managing Partner & Colton Dempsey, Senior Associate — Next47
In recent years, the logistics and supply chain industries have experienced significant transformations, emphasizing the need to establish digital, globally resilient networks for transporting raw materials, parts, and finished goods. Next47 has recognized the importance of partnering with logistics-focused startups, including Turvo, Sennder, Locus Robotics, cargo.one, and rideOS, all of which embrace this emerging trend.
Legacy Transportation Management Systems (TMS) can impede businesses from reaping the benefits of modern TMS due to their complex implementation, cumbersome usage, and lack of real-time connectivity with transportation providers. In today’s dynamic logistics landscape, the rigidity of these legacy systems greatly hinders their utility and effectiveness.
Enter Pando: Reinventing TMS
Pando is revolutionizing the logistics landscape by offering a modern, comprehensive suite of solutions that simplify and optimize every aspect of a logistics team’s shipping process. In 2020, when Next47 first met with the Pando team, we were greatly impressed by their deep logistics experience and initial product which was already in use by some of India’s most significant manufacturers and retailers. Their unusual level of enterprise readiness for an early-stage startup allowed customers to get up and running quickly. This led to our investment in their Series A.
Since then, the Pando team has expanded to the United States and earned an impressive client base that includes Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, Johnson & Johnson, Castrol, Accuride, Cummins, Carrier, and Hach. Customers consistently praise Pando’s advanced analytics and modular, scalable architecture. It is no surprise Pando has earned the trust of so many industry leaders, including 30 clients from the Fortune 500. We are thrilled to continue supporting Pando’s global vision by joining their $30M Series B funding round, announced today.
The Pando Fulfillment Cloud
The logistics industry’s fragmented nature and historical underinvestment in technology have resulted in manual shipping workflows becoming the norm. Pando’s Fulfillment Cloud platform streamlines the processes involved in negotiating pricing and contracts with carriers, brokers, and freight forwarders, as well as tracking shipments and managing documentation. Their real-time alerts and recommendations enable immediate action when shipments face potential delays. This simplifies procurement and fulfillment for customers, leading to better revenue, customer experience, and cost management.
To enhance freight utilization (considering that one in five truckload shipments was moved empty in 2022, as reported by Flock Freight), it is essential to optimally match each shipment with a carrier, combine it with other orders, pack the shipment and route it efficiently. Pando’s Freight Procurement and Delivery Planning & Optimization solutions automate these steps. In the process, they help customers reduce costs by more than 12% and CO2 emissions by 24%.
Next47’s Partnership with Pando
We are excited to support Nitin Jayakrishnan, Abhijeet Manohar, and the rapidly expanding Pando team as they continue to deliver enormous value to logistics teams worldwide through automation, visibility, and efficiency. Pando is currently seeking candidates for roles in the United States and India — we encourage you to explore their job board. Together, we aim to revolutionize the logistics landscape and make it more sustainable, efficient, and customer-centric.
