2017 Under the Radar: TradeLanes eyes Midwestern Ag as future clients
August 29, 2017 | Meghan LeVota
Editor’s note: Startland News picked 10 early-stage firms to spotlight for its annual Under the Radar startups list. The following is one of 2017’s companies. To view the full list, click here.
A recent graduate of the 2017 Sprint Accelerator program, TradeLanes is a newbie in Kansas City and showing significant movement.
The TradeLanes platform automates global trade focused on agriculture firms, lowering costs and removing days from the supply chain. To date, more than 90,000 cargo units have been shipped using the platform, said co-founder Vijay Harrell.
Digitizing documents, tracking shipments, notifying shippers of supply status, online bookings and detailed reports, the TradeLanes platform aims to make trade more efficient, Harrell said.
Thanks to its participation in the Sprint Accelerator, Trade Lanes (formerly of Miami, Florida) developed a beneficial working relationship with Kansas City-based Dairy Farmers of America. Harrell said the firm hopes to continue a partnership with the Ag giant, as well as other Kansas City area corporations.
The Sprint Accelerator is the third accelerator program for TradeLanes, since the firm launched in 2015. It also participated in the FedEx Logistics Accelerator and Venture Hive Miami.
Following the Sprint Accelerator program, Harrell has made a Kansas City hire and plans to open an office in the Crossroads this fall. Harrell believes that Kansas City is the best place for the firm to do business thanks to its central location and abundance of potential corporate partners
TradeLanes is in the middle of raising a seed round, which has yet to be announced publicly. Harrell is excited to focus on snagging as many Kansas City-area customers as possible, he said.
Featured Business
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Don’t like cookies? Your new favorite weirdough baker hungrily accepts the challenge
Tierney Larson is on a mission to bake the perfect cookies for those like herself with a not-so-sweet tooth, the Outliers Baked Goods owner shared. Each month, the self-taught baker and New York native experiments, developing four new adventurous flavors to please the taste buds of the outliers or weirdoughs of the dessert community —…
Shocked by a discovery while pregnant, this entrepreneur vowed to make self-care products from ingredients safe enough to eat
‘I might as well make my own’ Jess Winns, founder of Ari Rose Body Care, had always been pretty conscious of what she and her three daughters put into and onto their bodies, she said. However, as she researched more about holistic wellness while pregnant with her second daughter, Winns read about how more than…
Mediterranean of the Midwest: How this restaurateur is crafting authentic tastes for diners in the heart of Kansas
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to Go Topeka, which seeks economic success for all companies and citizens across Shawnee County through implementation of an aggressive economic development strategy that capitalizes…
GIFT launches We Are Black pitch competition with 10 entrepreneurs vying for $60K
Editor’s note: Kansas City G.I.F.T. is a non-financial partner of Startland News. Ten Black-owned Kansas City businesses are expected to pitch March 24 for their share of $60,000 at what organizers hope will become an annual event that helps to close the funding gap for entrepreneurs of color. The We Are Black pitch competition is…