The archive · Logistics & Supply · Strategic decision · 2018–2025
Nowports bets LatAm SMEs digitize China trade; $150M Series C makes a $1.1B unicorn
Two logistics-family founders digitized freight for LatAm SMEs trading with China, nearly died on cash flow, then hit a $1.1B valuation in ten months.
Nowports
What the business is
Nowports is a digital freight forwarder for Latin America–China trade: online quotes, real-time tracking, cargo insurance and documents on one platform, plus embedded SME financing launched in Mexico in 2024.
Starting capital：US$16M Series A (July 2021), US$60M Series B (December 2021) and US$150M Series C (May 2022) led by SoftBank Latin America Fund, with Tiger Global, Tencent, Foundation Capital, Monashees and others.
How it started
Founded by Stanford classmates Alfonso de los Ríos and Maximiliano Casal, both from families with decades in traditional freight in Mexico and Uruguay, to digitize Latin America–China trade. Bloomberg Línea recounts the pitch: moving one container from China to Mexico once meant more than 80 emails and 15 manual documents on an Excel-driven 'operating system'.
What happened
The company almost ran out of cash in December 2020 on internal cash-flow problems, then raised US$16M (July 2021), US$60M (December 2021) and US$150M (May 2022, SoftBank-led) in under a year, serving more than 2,100 clients at the Series C. In October 2024 it launched SME financing in Mexico — 24-hour credit decisions — citing that only 9.6% of Mexico's private-sector credit reaches SMEs; by December 2024 the product had ten active clients and the company was planning an AI concierge and platform 2.0 for 2025.
No ending yet — it is still running.
Background
Nowports is a Mexican digital freight forwarder founded by Stanford classmates Alfonso de los Ríos and Maximiliano Casal, both sons of logistics families, to digitize Latin America–China trade. The pitch: moving a container once meant 80+ emails, 15+ manual documents and an Excel 'operating system'; Nowports promised quotes, tracking, insurance and documents on one platform.
The company nearly ran out of cash in December 2020, then raised US$16M, US$60M and US$150M within about ten months. The last, led by SoftBank Latin America Fund with Tiger Global, Tencent, Foundation Capital and Monashees, made Nowports Latin America's first Spanish-speaking logitech unicorn at US$1.1B in May 2022, serving more than 2,100 clients with 500+ employees across seven countries.
From October 2024, Nowports added embedded SME financing in Mexico — credit decisions in about 24 hours and quotes in under 30 minutes — pointing to data that only 9.6% of Mexico's private-sector credit reaches SMEs. By December 2024 the product had ten active clients, and the company was building an AI concierge and platform 2.0 for 2025.
What has to be true
- Both founders grew up inside traditional freight in Mexico and Uruguay, so they knew the exact Excel-and-email pain before writing any code.
- Raising A, B and C rounds within about ten months converted one near-death cash crisis into a US$1.1B valuation by May 2022.
- The 'logistics grows during crises' argument gave investors a counter-cyclical reason to back the company amid global uncertainty.
- Embedded financing attacked a structural gap — only 9.6% of Mexico's private-sector credit reaches SMEs — making the platform sticky rather than transactional.
What can be applied
A near-death cash crisis in year two did not define the company; stacking A, B and C rounds in ten months plus embedded financing turned a commoditized freight business into a $1.1B franchise.
Aftermath
As of September 2026, Nowports continues to operate as a digital freight forwarder across Latin America and China. Its SME financing product launched in Mexico in October 2024, with credit decisions in about 24 hours; T21 reported in December 2024 that it had ten active clients and that the company planned an AI-powered concierge and a platform 2.0 for 2025. Bloomberg Línea reported at the Series C that an IPO was not ruled out in later years; no further round or valuation has been publicly reported.
Sources
- Nowports debuta como nuevo unicornio en México tras Serie C liderada por SoftBank
- Nowports, la freight forwarding digital que facilita el comercio internacional
- Nowports impulsa las PyMEs en México con nuevo servicio de financiamiento en su plataforma digital
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