$5 M seed funding secured by Nigeria’s OnePort 365 to digitise freight management across Africa

OnePort 365, a digital freight forwarding business based in Nigeria that makes it simpler to transfer goods to, from, and within Africa, has secured $5 million in early capital to help it accelerate the end-to-end digitisation of freight management in Africa and expand into other markets.

OnePort 365 has created a freight forwarding platform that allows traders to move cargo efficiently and conveniently to, from, and within Africa, while maintaining complete transparency, visibility, and control, reducing costs and eliminating time and effort inefficiencies associated with traditional supply chain management methods.

The firm is establishing an operating system for cross-border trade in Africa, with active operations in Nigeria and Ghana, and it has now secured a US $5 million seed round to assist its efforts. Mobility 54, Toyota Tsusho’s venture capital arm, and CFAO Group led the round, which included SBI Investment, Flexport, ODX, a Singaporean syndicate fund, and other strategic angel investors. After participating in the previous round, Samurai Incubate re-invested.

OnePort 365 is looking at expanding into new areas, which this money will help with, as well as delivering a wide range of additional services that will boost overall profitability.

“We are super excited to have these investors onboard to support our mission to optimise cross-border trading across the continent. With new regulations like the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement creating the potential for a new era of trade on the continent, we want to make it easier for traders to maximise the opportunity. We believe managing freights should be as easy as booking a flight or ordering a ride-hailing service and we are building the operating system to make this possible,” said Hio Sola-Usidame, CEO and founder of OnePort 365.

Takeshi Watanabe, CEO of Mobility 54 Investment SAS, expressed his joy in assisting the OnePort 365 team as it began the process of digitising Africa’s end-to-end freight management process.

“There is great potential to unlock significant commercial opportunities across the continent by addressing the longstanding challenges that have made it difficult to move freights into and around the continent, and we are confident that OnePort 365 has what it takes to succeed,” he said.