Supply Chain Management Firm Beacon Nets $50M for Product Development, Expansion

Beacon, a Jeff Bezos-backed logistics startup allowing companies to manage supply chains better, is reportedly raising tens of millions of pounds to help deal with growing demand.

Sky News reports that Beacon has cinched a $50 million Series B funding round which was led by Northstar.vc, a venture capital investor. Upper90, which also invests in early stage companies, has also participated.

Beacon was rolled out in 2018, is headquartered in London and utilizes artificial intelligence and cloud technology to help streamline operations for companies organizing international trade. It offers services like global ocean, air and road freight, customs clearance, insurance and supply chain finance.

The company has helped with cashflow needs by offering financing within 72 hours. This can help importers who are tasked with paying suppliers before a shipment journey begins that could take months.

Beacon is planning to use the funding for things like expanding the company workforce, developing tech and expanding into new markets.

Beacon’s investors reads as a list of luminaries, including Eric Schmidt, the former Google chief executive, Travis Kalanick, the Uber Technologies founder, and Marc Benioff, the Salesforce founder, chairman and chief executive, according to the report.

And Bezos is one of the wealthiest people in the world.

There has been more demand for efficient logistics operations because of higher freight rates, labor shortages and also more fervent customer demand for faster eCommerce deliveries.

PYMNTS writes that, in other Bezos-related news, Amazon was seeing fewer sales in July as people were returning to life outside of COVID lockdowns as vaccinations increased.

Read more: Amazon Sees Decelerating Sales As Post-Lockdown Life Resumes

While things have been complicated due to the Delta variant, PYMNTS reports that Amazon reported $113 billion in net sales from the three months ending June 30, which was up 27 percent from the same time in 2020, but still below analysts’ $115 billion expectations.

That has also come because of more eCommerce competition and regulatory challenges.