Founded in 2014 as an IoT SaaS platform for trucking companies in the Philippines, Inteluck has raised more than US$5m in funding as it moves to becoming a full B2B logistics service platform.

The data-driven third-party logistics platform raised the money in a series pre-B funding round led by MindWorks Capital with participation from Infinity Venture Partners and on-demand logistics technology platform Lalamove.

This is Lalamove’s first strategic investment while MindWorks Capital is an early investor, board member and major shareholder of Lalamove.

Inteluck started as an IoT SaaS platform for trucking companies in the Philippines to monitor and manage their shipment and drivers in real time. However, it later transformed to become a B2B logistics service platform after realising that existing logistics providers were not able to fulfil the standards required by their clients.

Since early 2018, Inteluck had amassed more than 17,000 certified lorries to become the largest trucking fleet in the Philippines. Under this marketplace model, it was able to aggregate the highly fragmented supply of trucking companies for medium to large-size enterprises and improve the standard and efficiency of full truckload logistics.

“The biggest pain point in full truckload shipping for enterprise customers is that it is extremely challenging to optimise delivery with many dynamic variables,” said Kevin Zhang, founder and CEO of Inteluck. “Our technology enables us to optimise delivery processes by combining data from external sources such as road conditions and weather with real-time data collected by IoT devices across our logistics fleet. By regrouping scattered bookings, we are able to generate higher utilisation in round trip loads and reduce waste for our customers.”

The company has more than 100 enterprise customers spanning a variety of industries including Coca-Cola, Oppo and Asia Brewery, as well as global manufacturers, telecom providers and distributors.

Inteluck will use the proceeds of this funding round to launch an intelligent dispatch system and further expand its customer base in the Philippines. Seeing similar pain points throughout the region, the company will also plan to scale its services to other markets in south-east Asia.

“We are impressed by Kevin’s acuity in understanding the intricacies of the local trucking market,” said David Chang, managing partner of MindWorks Capital. “By bringing on Lalamove to co-invest in this round, we will leverage our collective expertise in logistics to help Inteluck scale to become the dominant industry leader.”

Shing Chow, founder and CEO of Lalamove, added: “We see a lot of synergy between Inteluck and Lalamove, both being companies using technology and data to revolutionise logistics. Combining Lalamove’s expertise in last mile delivery with Inteluck’s experience in long haul delivery, we are confident that we can optimise delivery offerings for businesses across south-east Asia. We also admire Kevin’s sharp sense in identifying pain points in long-haul logistics, which will undoubtedly help Inteluck fulfil the needs of their customers adequately.”

Inteluck is a data-driven third-party logistics provider that focuses on first- and middle-kilometre delivery for mid to large-size enterprises in south-east Asia. It is now headquartered in Singapore and operates in other south-east Asian countries including the Philippines and Thailand.

MindWorks Capital was established in 2014 and is a venture capital firm with its headquarters in Hong Kong and offices in Beijing and Jakarta. It manages $500m in total net asset value across its three funds.

Founded in 2013, Lalamove, also known as Huolala in mainland China, matches about six million customers with a pool of over 440,000 active drivers of vans, trucks, lorries and motorcycles to provide same-day delivery services. It operates in more than 300 cities across China, south-east Asia, India and Latin America.