Maritime digital procurement start-up ShipsKart reports that it has closed a $2.7 million Series A funding round, to support the further development of its B2B online marketplace.
ShipsKart allows maritime operators to purchase items for ships including vessel supplies (eg. marine products, consumables, equipment, spare parts and service products) or provisions for crew members (eg. Kitchen essentials and toiletries).
Users can manage the entire end-to-end process within the platform and monitor historical price information to identify opportunities to improve efficiencies by mapping purchasing patterns and trends. The platform also has a budgeting tool for operators to more easily keep track of spending.
“In almost every industry today, eCommerce platforms are the norm yet maritime procurement still lags behind,” said Dhruv Sawhney, CEO and Co-founder of ShipsKart.
“Bringing existing analogue marketplaces online with ShipsKart will not only help to increase savings and benefit the bottom line for companies but will make global supply chains more resilient. With our marketplace, maritime companies can now focus their time on what’s really critical to drive value on the management front.”
The funding round was led by TMV and Hermes Offshore, with strategic investments from the likes of Motion Ventures, Tradeworks.vc and Eternia Investments. The fresh injection of capital will be used to accelerate ShipsKart’s plans to expand its global footprint with strategic partnerships along with physical offices and warehouses located near ports.
