Issue #52: Announcing Cargado’s Series A

Announcing Our $12M Series A: Building the Future of Cross-Border Freight

To say the last few months at Cargado have been a rollercoaster would be an understatement. Every few weeks, we’ve anxiously watched to see what the President would announce regarding tariffs. Tariff discussions have shaped our industry since Donald Trump’s first administration updated NAFTA to the USMCA.

With the latest tariff announcement on April 2nd, reciprocal tariffs were implemented on most countries worldwide — with exceptions for Mexico and Canada. Goods qualifying under USMCA will remain tariff-free, hopefully bringing some much-needed clarity.

This evolving tariff environment underscored the importance of having partners with deep conviction and are aligned with our vision and mission to modernize cross-border freight. Just over a year ago, before launching the initial iteration of our marketplace, Primary Venture Partners led our $6.8M seed round. Although we still had most of our pre-seed capital remaining, Primary convinced us they could accelerate our growth — and they delivered. Their unparalleled support spanned recruiting, coaching, GTM strategy, and strong board-level guidance. Taking that capital early turned out to be one of our best decisions.

As our company and momentum grew, we were fortunate to connect with another exceptional partner who shared our deep conviction and brought extensive experience to support our next stage of growth. Late last year, I met Itai Tsiddon and Nick Ellenoff from LGVP. Itai, a former Intelligence Officer in the Israeli Defense Forces, co-founder of Lightricks, and investor in startups like Frame.io (acquired by Adobe for $1.3B), immediately stood out as an operator-turned-investor who genuinely understood our vision. Alongside his partner, Nick—formerly of Insight Partners — they quickly grasped our business and what it would take to reach the next level.

After several conversations — including enthusiastic feedback from customers (one even asked about investing) — LGVP extended us a term sheet. Just one month later, we closed a $12M Series A financing. In addition to ongoing support from existing investors Primary Venture Partners, Ironspring Ventures, Zenda Capital, and Proeza Ventures, we welcomed Conversion Capital, Assembly Ventures, and Friends & Family Capital onto our cap table.

Every time you raise capital, as a founder, it’s an opportunity to bring more expertise to the table. With Christian Lawless at Conversion, we saw someone with a really strong GTM background. At Assembly Ventures, Chris Thomas and the team have extensive experience and connections in the automotive space and, given how much automotive ties in with cross-border freight, that made sense. And then John Fogelsong with Friends & Family Capital brings extensive finance experience that will help our team. Some of those areas that you might not think about as a founder, but realize that you will need all of this to scale your business.

Closing this round amid tariff uncertainties presented unique challenges. Some viewed potential tariffs on Mexico as a tailwind, predicting manufacturers would scrutinize their freight spending more closely — driving increased volumes through Cargado as logistics companies sought cost efficiencies. Others saw it as a headwind, concerned about the impact of uncertainty on investment decisions. Ultimately, we attracted a perfect group of investors who deeply believe in our team, roadmap, and growing network.

With this funding, we're even better positioned to execute our vision. From day one, we've insisted that Cargado isn't just another load board; it's a collaborative platform for cross-border freight that’s delightful and easy . We have numerous exciting features planned this year, all aimed at enabling logistics and trucking companies to do more business together — and to genuinely enjoy using the tools we've built.

And yes, this also means we're about to seriously level up our swag game — stay tuned!

If you're not already using Cargado, you're missing out. Reach out today to schedule a demo.