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
Service took Yinka Faleti from Kuwait to Ferguson; now this VC’s pushing social change from a $25M fund
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 the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. ST.…
Here for the party: Mobile bar wants you to drink your brand (and its own laid-back, good-times vibe)
A new mobile bar business wants to take the cockiness out of the cocktail scene. “There’s a lot of ego in the cocktail scene, but we think the bar should be a distraction,” said Brian Shellenberger, co-founder of runner! cocktails. “When you’re having a stressed out week, what do you do? You go to a…
Look up for ‘King Me’: How Rif Raf Giraffe’s colorful new mural paints a full circle moment on this Crossroads corner
The chaos created by an unexpected building collapse that sent Jason Harrington’s East Crossroads apartment crumbling to the pavement below ultimately made room for an even larger canvas, said the famed graffiti artist also known as Rif Raf Giraffe. In 2018, the building now home to King G — a neighborhood bar and deli —…
Fully funded in less than 6 hours: KC-stitched Yardball reinvents the game of catch, nearly doubles Kickstarter goal
Chad Hickman has experienced how easy it is to get lost in a deep conversation while playing a game of catch, he shared. “When your only goal is to throw something back and forth, you can really open up in a conversation and focus on the now. You’re not worried about other things. I used…