Supply Chain start-up WIZ Freight to spend ₹300 crore on R&D

WIZ Freight, a full-stack digital cross-border supply chain start-up, has set up a Tech and R&D Centre in Chennai with an initial capital expenditure of ₹30 crore. The company said it would be spending over ₹300 crore over the next three years on R&D.

The new centre will develop tech solutions for the cross-border shipping industry using Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), web and mobile applications and big data capabilities to improve functions like routing, end-to-end visibility, digitisation of shipping documentation and warehousing management among others. The centre will employ around 300 persons in the field of data science, analytics, software and logistics.

Ramkumar Govindarajan, Co-Founder and CEO of WIZ Freight, said: “We will use AI/ML based technology applications to predict the Expected Time of Arrival (ETA), intelligent shipment routing, dynamic pricing, demand or supply forecasting and OCR solutions for document extraction.” He said: “The blockchain-based applications will help in digitising shipping documentation and provide end-to-end visibility, carbon footprint calculation and trade finance execution.”

Ramkumar Ramachandran, Co-Founder and Chairman of WIZ Freight, said: “Use of the latest technology to innovate and improve the efficiency in the shipping industry is the need of the hour. Our new initiative will help reduce the carbon footprint of the global logistics industry and contribute to achieving the COP26 goals of reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.”

WIZ Freight’s Tech and R&D centre will create IoT solutions for precision tracking, cold-chain management and warehousing bots. The start-up will explore potential acquisitions of start-ups disrupting the cross-border supply chain space with rich R&D and IP capabilities.

In March 2022, WIZ Freight raised ₹275 crore in a mix of equity and debt led by Tiger Global and participation by Axilor Ventures, Foundamental, Arali Ventures, Stride Ventures and Alteria Capital. This was largest series A in the logistics space in India.