The French company Searoutes secures 1.3 million euros to help shippers reduce the carbon footprint of their transport; here’s how

Investors in this round

The current round has been led by WSB Beteiligungs, the venture capital firm founded by Wolf Scheder-Bieschin.

According to Bieschin, “Searoutes services bridge the gap between current market solutions and the need to tackle climate change issues facing the supply chain and maritime industries. I am impressed with the technology and R&D in place at Searoutes to develop powerful, complex algorithms to analyze and process data. This provides a significant benefit for everyone involved in the industry.

The tour also includes the financing of several investors who are experts in logistics and freight transport, including OHB venture Capital, the venture capital arm of the OHB group, Team ABC venture and CMA CGM, a French container transport and transport company. In addition, angel investors such as Thomas Sørbø, founder of the leading sea freight rate benchmarking and market information platform Xeneta, also participated in this round.

Building a greener supply chain

According to Searoutes, under the current scenario, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation represent up to 10 percent of total shippers’ GHG emissions. This is compounded by the fact that calculating emissions in the logistics industry is a laborious task and prone to poor quality data. This is where Searoutes seeks to bridge the gap.

The startup has designed an eco-calculator to calculate the carbon footprint of a container throughout its journey.

Incubated and accelerated by ZEBOX, the international incubator and accelerator founded by the CMA CGM Group, the startup already has 60 major accounts including Roquette, a world leader in plant-based ingredients for the food, nutrition and healthcare, and Ceva Logistics, a logistics and supply chain company. The company quickly adds new customers.

About Searoutes

Founded in 2019 by Dr Pierre Garreau and Carsten Bullemer, Searoutes specializes in innovative digital solutions for the maritime, air and logistics sector. The company claims to provide the first distance calculation service that uses historical vessel data collected from AIS signals.

Searoutes has developed algorithms in collaboration with the LIS – QARMA of the University of Aix-Marseille, which provides maritime and logistics industries with real-time itineraries and a CO2 emissions calculator to help shippers find means reduce their emissions.

The company claims that its technology can process and transform large datasets of cargo information, including historical vessel positions, satellite data, engine specifications, schedule information, weather data, and more. , in significant information.

For example, a shipper can reduce their GHG emissions by 30% when making purchasing decisions by choosing newer, larger and slower fleets, and up to 60% by choosing the right mix of ports and mode of transportation when planning a gate. -to-door route.

Use of capital

With the goal of becoming the standard for GHG transparency for freight transportation, Searoutes will accelerate the deployment of the solution to shippers and freight forwarders as well as other related technology platforms.

The company also continues to invest in research in partnership with AI laboratories to optimize the door-to-door loading-unloading cycle.

Speaking on the development, Dr Pierre Garreau said: “Shippers need to manage purchasing and logistics management throughout the supply chain, not just the maritime part. We need to help them develop better sourcing strategies. For example by choosing more ecological modes of transport, or a more suitable loading or unloading port. Searoutes’ vision is to give more visibility to green carriers and allow shippers to select them more proactively.