Dragon Capital Investments Ltd. has agreed to buy a minority stake in ShipNEXT, a web-based shipping platform developed by Varamar Group in Odessa, Ukraine.
The amount of the investment and terms were not disclosed.
Dragon Capital will support ShipNEXT in its development and help to find partners and investors to accelerate business growth, company officials said in a statement.
“There’s no single effective marketplace dealing with all types of cargo as the industry still lives in the era of e-mail exchange,” said Brian Best, managing director and head of investment banking at Dragon Capital, which also is based in Ukraine. “We believe that great sector knowledge backed by a strong team of industry practitioners, scientists and IT professionals will help ShipNEXT to set a new standard, making shipping faster, more transparent and cost-efficient.”
ShipNEXT CEO Alexander Varvarenko said the company will roll out the product over the next 18 months and combine artificial intelligence and the latest digital technology with the company’s 17-year industry experience in shipping dry-bulk, steel and heavy and oversize cargo.
“It took us over 1½ years to develop,” he noted.
