Perspectives

PeakSpan’s International Freight Technology Landscape

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Jack Freeman

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Yaseen Abdulridha

January 8, 2023

We see international freight as an increasingly exciting market to invest behind. Globally, we ship 11 billion tons per year. That’s 1.5 tons per person. Layer on top of this that you now want your West Elm coffee table in two weeks and your Lululemon running top in 48 hours. Suffice to say, the expectations keep rising which have caused shipping and logistics costs to explode (now 8% of GDP in the US…). Depending on where your coffee table is manufactured, it might cost 2–5x less than it would have if manufactured in the US. For all we hear about “deglobalization” (the movement towards bringing manufacturing stateside), it remains highly improbable, and disadvantageous to slow down the overseas production of goods. With 1) the volume of goods, 2) manufacturing hubs and 3) consumer expectations not changing anytime soon, we should all buckle up for continued international trade for the foreseeable future. All aboard!

At PeakSpan, we see these trends as ample support for the continued investment in international supply chain infrastructure. This includes physical infrastructure, but also technology investment to support international freight sales, procurement, operations and payments. We see opportunities for BCOs (shippers like West Elm), freight forwarders(providers of logistics services to shippers), and carriers (the ports, planes, trains and automobiles) to further digitize in the coming decade. Further, we continue to see dozens of startups come to market each year to support this incoming wave of digitization. The PeakSpan team has canvassed the universe of international freight-related solutions and are excited to release our International Freight Technology Landscape. We look forward to your feedback and are happy to discuss anytime!

About Jack Freeman

Jack has worked with growth-stage technology businesses his whole career and has partnered with over 25 portfolio companies at PeakSpan. He currently leads PeakSpan’s FinTech and Supply Chain investment themes. Jack was named to GrowthCap’s Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors List in 2025. Prior to joining PeakSpan, Jack worked at Stackpop, an early-stage startup, where he helped build a SaaS spend management platform that enabled CTOs and IT teams to buy and manage internet infrastructure. After Stackpop was disrupted by AWS, Jack joined Macquarie Capital, where he spent three years executing software M&A and capital markets transactions for technology businesses.

Jack holds a B.A. in Economics from Middlebury College. Prior to Middlebury, he played Division I soccer at Seton Hall University and for the New York Red Bulls U-23 team. Jack lives in Larchmont, NY, with his wife and two dogs, Willow and Leeuwen. Once a year, Jack captains a team in a charity bike ride to the Hamptons to support his brother’s autism program, Quest, where he has raised over $100K. Since retiring from collegiate soccer, Jack has become an avid endurance athlete, completing five of the “Big Six” World Marathon Majors (London remaining), an Ironman, and a 50-mile ultramarathon. He is currently focused on improving his marathon time from 2:32:30 to sub-2:30.

About Yaseen Abdulridha

Yaseen joined PeakSpan Capital in 2021 and, over the past decade, has spent his career working on and alongside software companies at pivotal moments in their respective journeys. Before PeakSpan, he was an investment banking Associate at J.P. Morgan, advising software companies on M&A and capital raises. Earlier in his career, he worked as a quantitative analyst building statistical and machine learning models focused on portfolio risk modeling.

Yaseen holds both an M.S. and a B.S. in Quantitative Economics from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and is a CFA Charterholder. A builder at heart, he is obsessed with the mission of being the partner of choice for growth-stage entrepreneurs and has the privilege of joining exceptional teams as they scale go-to-market, evolve product strategy, and build enduring companies. He lives in California with his wife and pinches himself every day that he gets to be part of such an amazing team and boards.

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