Freight management platform Portex announced Thursday it has raised $6.25 million in seed funding to further develop its technology for small and midsize shippers. The funding round was led by Footwork VC, with participation from Cowboy Ventures and previous investors, Susa Ventures and Base10.
Founded in 2022 by Brittany Ennix, Portex was inspired by Ennix’s family background in manufacturing and her experience at Uber and Flexport, where she worked with midmarket clients.
In an interview with FreightWaves, Ennix explained that Portex’s core focus is on building technology that integrates with the existing workflows of everyday shippers, rather than forcing them to change their processes. Many SMB shippers have established relationships with multiple freight forwarders, brokers and carriers. Portex aims to support these relationships, instead of requiring shippers to work with a single provider, a common challenge Ennix observed in her previous roles.
“The enterprise transportation management systems tend to be too expensive, very cumbersome and overkill for what SMB shippers need,” she said. “As a result, many companies still manage transportation tasks manually across email, spreadsheets and multiple sites. However, SMB shippers can achieve significant transportation savings, just like enterprise companies, by adopting the right technology that enhances their existing processes.”
| Funding details | Portex |
|---|---|
| Funding amount | $6.5 million |
| Funding round | Seed round (2nd) |
| Lead investors | Footwork VC |
| Secondary investors | Cowboy Ventures, Susa Ventures and Base10 |
| Business goals for the round | Expand its technical and go-to-market teams |
| Total funding | $7.8 million |
A key aspect of Portex’s approach is its deep understanding of the logistics industry. The platform is designed to be user-friendly and provide value to midsize companies that often rely on manual processes.
Portex helps shippers by automating procurement and freight execution tasks, providing real-time analytics, and using AI to suggest optimal carriers based on historical data. The platform also streamlines communication between shippers and their broker partners.
“We’ve seen customers cut up to 25 hours per week on manual tasks and reduce up to 30% of their annual freight spend. Features like our instant chat function have replaced hundreds of emails a week,” Ennix explained.
Portex is nearing $100 million in annualized freight transportation bookings and has retained 100% of the companies that have shipped four or more loads using the system. The average customer uses the platform at least four times a day.
“We used to consolidate 22 different spreadsheets — a process that took four days. Now, I just awarded 75 lanes in 45 minutes,” a logistics manager at Windmill Rice Co. said in the release.
Ennix credits this positive feedback to the company’s “secret sauce” — developing new features with customers as co-builders. This partnership approach emphasizes collaboration between Portex and its customers, creating a relationship far deeper than a traditional vendor-client model.
Looking ahead, Ennix outlined Portex’s plans to enhance the platform with AI-powered features like automated status updates and custom analytics. The company also aims to expand its technical and go-to-market teams to support its growth.
“While small-to-midsized companies might be an overlooked market, they represent more than half of the $4 trillion global freight market,” said Jillian Williams, partner at Cowboy Ventures. “Portex’s stickiness and tangible customer value underscore Brittany’s deep market knowledge and ability to create the next generation of tooling for this vast segment. Her experience at the intersection of technology, logistics, and sales has positioned her to build an impactful product from day one.”
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