project44 raises an additional $45 million in new financing round

Chicago-based project44, a technology services provider offering standardized, secure Web service API (application programming interfaces) integrations enabling 3PLs and shippers to connect with carriers in real time, recently announced it has completed a $45 million financing round, which was spearheaded by Sapphire Ventures.

Other investors that participated in this round of financing include new investor Investor Insight Venture Partners and as well as participation from existing investors 8VC, Chicago Ventures, Emergence Capital, Omidyar Technology Ventures, OpenView Venture Partners, and Pritzker Group Venture Capital.

This comes on the heels of the company’s announcement in April that it raised $35 million in new funding since closing a $10.5 million Series A investment of growth capital in September 2016.

In an interview with Logistics Management at this week’s Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Edge Conference in Nashville, Tenn., Jett McCandless, project44 CEO and founder, said that the total amount of venture capital funding project44 has taken in comes to roughly $90 million going back to the second quarter of 2016, coupled with capital he individually provided as well.

“Our plan with this most recent round is to hire more software engineers, more product personnel, and slightly increase to go-to-market team,” he explained. “What it really comes down to is we want ubiquity for any truck, train, plane, boat anywhere in the world and to be connected to it through an API or telematics or ERP of TMS back through project44…and our customers use that as the system of record.

When asked how much project44 has grown in recent years, McCandless said the company currently is comprised of roughly 120 employees, well ahead of the 15 it had at the time of its inception. He said the company currently has 60 open positions and is expected to finish the year at around 170-to-180 employees, with the expectation to hire another 200 in 2019.

“It is a tough hiring environment, and we have a really high standard so we may end up at around 340-to-360 by the end of next year, and if everything lines up and the market loosens up a little bit, it could actually be closer to 400,” said McCandless.

Addressing how project44’s technology is benefitting shippers and 3PLs, McCandless noted that over the past 50 or 60 years, CEOs have thought of transportation and logistics operations as a cost center, but that concept has been flipped upside down, due, in large part, to how Amazon handles customer service.

“It is not just a cost center, instead it is the top of the spear for the customer experience,” he said. “You have different decision-makers inside these companies now that we have seen in the last half-century…and you have different internal and external customers that are very used to these consumer-type experiences and are expecting that as well. Our product is perfect for that narrative with advanced visibility that improves the internal and external customer experience.”