Nowports
“Can a digital freight forwarder become the financial operating system for Latin American importers and exporters by embedding working capital and insurance directly into the logistics workflow?”
Founded2018
HQMonterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
FoundersAlfonso De los Rios, Maximiliano Casal
Total raised$242.6M
Latest roundSeries C, 2022
Valuation$1.1B post-money (2022)
IndustryVertical SaaS / Logistics
The story
Founded in 2018 as a digital freight forwarder in Latin America targeting the region's inefficient and opaque logistics sector. Expanded beyond pure freight forwarding to embed financial services—specifically inventory financing and factoring—through Nowports Capital (a Mexican SOFOM entity), positioning itself as an all-in-one logistics and fintech platform for Latin American importers and exporters. Significant headcount reduction (from ~268 to ~166 employees YoY) suggests post-unicorn rationalization and refocus on core Mexico and Chile markets.
Product timeline
2018
Founded as a digital freight forwarder in Latin America, focusing on Mexico.· pivot
2021
Expanded logistics platform to include cargo insurance and financing products.· banking
2022
Raised $150M Series C at $1.1B valuation led by SoftBank, achieving unicorn status.· ipo
2022
Launched Nowports Capital (Avenida Vessel S.A.P.I. DE C.V., SOFOM, E.N.R.) for inventory financing and factoring to importers/exporters.· lending
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Nowports
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
1 layer disclosed in Nowports’s embedded-finance stack
Lending
Inventory FinancingFactoring
Accounting gap: significant