ZEBOX, an international accelerator network founded by shipping conglomerate CMA CGM to introduce more tech innovation into the supply chain industry, announced today the launch of its APAC headquarters. Based in Singapore, ZEBOX Asia will also look at markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan and Korea.The APAC hub is backed by Enterprise Singapore, a board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry to foster SME development, and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, alongside industry partners Bureau Veritas Marine and Offshore, PSA unboXed and Synergy Marine Group.Founded in 2018 by CMA CGM Group chairman and CEO Rodolphe Saadé, ZEBOX already has hubs in France, the United States, the United Kingdom, West Africa and the Caribbeans, which have collectively worked with 100 startups that have raised a total of $235 million in funding. It has 20 corporate partners that startups collaborate with while they are in ZEBOX’s incubator, including BNP Paribas, CEVA Logistics, Infosys, BNSG Railway, Port of Virginia and Centrime.ZEBOX CEO Gwen Salley told TechCrunch that along with access to mentoring, experts, business opportunities and funding, its incubator program gives startups opportunities to test their solutions and work with large corporations. For corporate partners, the advantage is working with startups that can address their specific business challenges and engage in de-risked proof of concepts.The incubator network picked Singapore for its newest hub because more than 4,000 regional headquarters and startups are based there and it has pro-business policies, an efficient regulatory framework, transparent legal and financial systems and strong digital infrastructure, Salley said. “Additionally, the city state’s strategic location at the crossroads of major shipping lines and air routes connects large parts of Asia to the rest of the world, making it a global logistics hub,” he added.Some examples of startups incubated by ZEBOX include Searoutes, which uses routing engines and predictive data to show shippers how much CO2 emissions they’re producing at key points in the procurement chain and Sublime Energie, a deeptech startup that focuses on biogas liquefaction tech and provides biogas collection services. Both of these took part in ZEBOX France.BasicBlock, which took part in ZEBOX America and has iraised more than $78 million in funding, automates invoices and develops financial products for the freight industry

FourKites and Cargonerds have partnered to help freight forwarders and shippers track global shipments in real time. The new collaboration adds FourKites’ real-time supply chain visibility capabilities to Cargonerds’ digital freight platform for quoting, booking, tracking and reporting, the companies said in a Monday (Jan. 30) press release. “[FourKites’] end-to-end solution enables us to give our customers the most accurate ETAs (estimated time of arrivals) and greater network collaboration,” Cargonerds Founder Conrad Franchi said in the release. “Having the right data at the right time to identify precisely what can be done is the only path to proactively mitigating issues while reducing costs and fees.”