FreightTech Friday: Denim to scale with $63M warehouse facility

Fintech platform Denim recently received a $63 million warehouse facility from Silicon Valley Bank, in partnership with Trinity Capital, to enable Denim to scale operations to cover the financial needs of its broker customers.

The company has raised $235.4 million since being founded in 2017 under its previous branding, Axle Payments. Denim rebranded in 2022, aiming to provide financial services to others outside of trucking and in other segments of the supply chain.

Denim currently offers services to freight brokers including factoring, payment and collections solutions, and is capable of integrating into most TMS systems including Tai Software, AscendTMS, Eka Omni-TMS, EZ Loader, Turvo, Zuum and Port TMS.

“We doubled our invoices last year, again. Our clients love how Denim is reimagining factoring to maximize flexibility. For example, clients decide which loads to factor and control rate discounts by extending payment periods,” Sean Smith, vice president of product, told FreightWaves. “With our new $63 million warehouse facility, we can maintain this level of flexibility and scale our client servicing.”

Denim also recently announced a less-than-truckload play by integrating its services into MyCarrierPortal.

“LTL for brokers can be a huge growth opportunity for us, one that allows small and medium-sized brokers to participate,” said Smith during an interview with FreightWaves on SiriusXM.

Smith said Denim has been integrated into MyCarrierPortal for a few weeks now and has helped with not only auditing invoices for errors but also managing carrier risk and fraud.

OneRail acquires Orderbot

Fulfillment provider OneRail has acquired enterprise order management software Orderbot to integrate into OneRail’s OmniPoint, a last-mile solution and delivery network, for an end-to-end solution. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“I am thrilled to combine our expertise with OneRail, and to have found an ideal partner that shares our values and goals to take the company to the next level,” Orderbot founder and CEO Marianne Zakhour said Wednesday in a news release. “Our joint solution ushers in a new era of real-time product and delivery data that will empower businesses of all sizes to achieve perfect order fulfillment, enhancing their ability to fulfill orders faster with more accuracy and efficiencies than were ever possible before.”

According to OneRail, customers should expect improvements in split orders, fewer out-of-stock situations and fewer late deliveries with Orderbot’s solution.

“Retailers and product distributors face a universal challenge: identifying the optimal fulfillment location to minimize costs and maximize order accuracy,” said OneRail founder and CEO Bill Catania in the release. “Integrating Orderbot into OneRail provides our clients with a unified solution, which optimizes every step of the fulfillment process, whether e-commerce order shipping from a warehouse or distribution center, a localized delivery from a store or warehouse, or other store fulfillment options, including ship from store and buy online and pick up in store.”

OneRail has been improving OmniPoint, recently releasing its Inventory Visibility product to help manage inventory and address shrinkage in transit.

“The sum of these announcements cement OneRail’s mission, which is to provide our customers with a competitive advantage — which, for many of them, centers on enhancing the overall customer experience through improved fulfillment operations,” Catania said in the release.

Brief Bytes

On Tuesday, the Port of Virginia announced a partnership with texting solution Vendorflow to enhance the port’s messaging capabilities. Vendorflow expressed excitement about improving operational alerts for truck drivers and stakeholders, leveraging texting technology to boost customer service and operational efficiency at one of the United States’ most modernized gateways, according to Venderflow.

Turvo Inc. has partnered with Vooma to enhance freight management efficiency through AI-driven automation. This collaboration streamlines operations for freight brokers and carriers, reducing costs and response times. Customers like BWS Logistics and Zengistics report significant improvements in order entry automation and operational agility. The integration of Vooma’s technology with Turvo’s TMS provides faster quoting, better visibility and strategic decision-making.

Qargo announced Friday it raised $14 million in Series A funding from Balderton Capital to enhance its transport management platform. Founded in 2020, Qargo’s cloud-based SaaS solution streamlines logistics operations, enabling faster order processing, optimized route planning and reduced carbon emissions. The new funds will support market expansion, product development and team growth. In March 2024, Qargo’s software facilitated 175,000 journeys across Europe, significantly improving operational efficiency for logistics companies.