Lalamove backs logistics startup Inteluck in $5m round led by MindWorks

Inteluck, a logistics company focused on first- and second-mile delivery, announced that it has secured more than US$5 million in a pre-series B funding round led by Hong Kong-based venture capital firm MindWorks Capital.

Infinity Venture Partners and on-demand logistics startup Lalamove, which does last-mile delivery, also participated in the round.

The deal marks the first strategic investment of Lalamove, which itself counts MindWorks as an early investor, board member, and shareholder.

Inteluck founder Kevin Zhang / Photo credit: Inteluck

Inteluck started in 2014 as a software-as-a-service platform that monitors and manages shipments and drivers for trucking companies in the Philippines. After realizing that existing logistics providers were not able to fulfill the standards required by clients, it later transformed into a business-to-business logistics service provider.

“The biggest pain point in full truckload shipping for enterprise customers is that it is extremely challenging to optimize delivery with many dynamic variables,” Inteluck said in a statement.

Under its marketplace model, the company aggregates the fragmented supply of trucking companies for medium- and large-sized enterprises. It relies on data from external sources, such as road conditions and weather, and data collected by IoT devices from its fleet to optimize the delivery process. The startup also claims to generate higher utilization in round-trip loads and reduce waste by regrouping bookings.

Inteluck said it will use the new funds to launch an intelligent dispatch system and further expand its customer base in the Philippines. It currently has over 100 enterprise customers, including Coca-Cola, Oppo, and Asia Brewery, according to the statement. It also claims to have the largest trucking fleet in the country, with more than 17,000 certified trucks since early 2018.

The Singapore-headquartered company is now preparing to enter Thailand, MindWorks said, with plans to expand to other major Southeast Asian markets in the future.

Last year, the company raised US$1 million in series A money from Chinese VC firm Mingshi Capital (also known as FutureCap).