Back in 2021 Vector.ai (which launched in 2017) raised a $15 million round led by Bessemer to apply machine learning to automate these tasks.

Even small changes may reap cost-cutting rewards for small businesses seeking to weather 2023’s projected rocky road. Economic news over the past few days has felt grim. Grocers are seeing even their higher-income customers buy less, and interest rate hikes are influencing the shopping behaviors of the same demographic. Discretionary items such as smartphones are also experiencing record sales slumps. These developments come as consumers overall are still spending, generally with credit, but that trend could reverse as disposable personal income growth rates slow. Some major lenders have already announced that they’re setting aside extra funds due to possible loan loss amid fears of a coming recession

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.”