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.
[divide]
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
3 local startups advance in national pitch bout
Three startups from Kansas are among the semifinalists in a competition to snag $10,000 from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The Kauffman Foundation’s One in a Million contest announced Wednesday 15 semifinalists from 12 states. Semifinalists will travel to Kansas City during Global Entrepreneurship Week for a chance to become one of five finalists for…
KC’s ‘growth and excitement’ attracts Phoenix tech firm
Give yourselves a pat on the back, Kansas City techies. The Kansas City tech community has once again enticed an out-of-state firm to expand to the City of Fountains. Phoenix-based cloud computing company Inspire Data Solutions recently opened a downtown Kansas City office in hopes of tapping into the area’s burgeoning tech community. A former Kansas…
KU entrepreneurship program nabs award
The University of Kansas’ entrepreneurial education program recently earned a national award. The University Economic Development Association awarded the Entrepreneurs@KU program its “Award of Excellence in Innovation & Entrepreneurship.” The commendation recognizes programs that accelerate economic development by supporting startups, high-growth companies and clusters within a region, and converting talent into wealth through innovation and…
New national CAPS Network grows from local program
The Blue Valley Center for Advanced Professional Studies is helping create a national consortium that will band together schools to boost an innovative education model. Blue Valley CAPS executive director Corey Mohn said that his program often receives interest from other schools to learn about its curriculum, which pushes students to collaborate with businesses and other professionals in…