Chicago-based FourKites was named a leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Real-Time Transportation Visibility Platforms. Out of 14 vendors evaluated, FourKites was the only company positioned in the leaders quadrant with the highest “Completeness of Vision.”
FourKites pioneered real-time transportation visibility in 2014 and is now leading the industry into a new era where global supply chains are powered and optimized by real-time visibility data and machine learning. Recognized as a “company of firsts,” FourKites delivered more than 120 new products and features in 2020 alone, including a number of industry-firsts such as multimodal end-to-end purchase order tracking; Appointment Manager, an automated appointment scheduling platform for facilities, shippers and carriers; a new software category – Dynamic Yard – that extends visibility into warehouses and yards; and Dynamic Ocean, a next-generation international ocean visibility solution that encompasses advanced document management capabilities, robust collaboration features and support for bookings, with superior end-to-end real-time tracking.
Through its recent $100 million Series D financing round, led by Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, with strategic investors including Qualcomm Ventures LLC, Volvo Group Venture Capital AB and Zebra Technologies, FourKites is now poised to fuel a broader vision for the future of digital supply chains — one that connects the physical and digital worlds of warehouses, stores and transportation to enable true end-to-end visibility and unlock tremendous value for the entire ecosystem, fueling even greater automation and collaboration.
“FourKites’ recognition as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant follows a year of record growth, momentum and technological innovation, driven in close collaboration with customers,” said Mathew Elenjickal, founder and CEO of FourKites. “This is a testament to the value we continue to bring to our customers and recognition of our vision for the future of supply chain management and automation – one that focuses on eliminating barriers across supply chains and delivering true, end-to-end global supply chain visibility.”
Collaboration with the world’s largest shippers continues to play a critical part in FourKites’ technology roadmap, as together with its customers FourKites innovates and delivers solutions that address the industry’s most pressing needs. In the last year alone, FourKites released the industry’s first end-to-end purchase order lifecycle tracking solution, which was developed in conjunction with Meijer, one of the largest food retailers and wholesalers in the country.
In addition, FourKites partnered with Cardinal Health to build a cognitive supply chain and serve as the company’s central data hub to create a fast, reliable and frictionless experience for the 29,000 pharmacies and nearly 90 percent of American hospitals that depend upon Cardinal Health for critical supplies.
Today, the FourKites platform tracks more than 2 million shipments per day for some of the world’s largest companies including Coca-Cola, Dow, Eastman, PetSmart, The Michaels Companies, Land O’Lakes, AB InBev, Constellation Brands and 3M. FourKites saw demand for its network of logistics tracking data and proprietary machine learning technology surge in 2020, as evidenced by record global growth in new shipping customers across all major verticals. In 2020, FourKites saw:
- Greater than 100 percent growth in total shipment volumes, including ocean load growth of 149 percent, and rail and intermodal growth of 49 percent.
- International load volume growth of 200 percent, including a 400 percent-plus increase in tracked loads in EMEA and 95 percent-plus growth in LATAM.
- 67 percent increase in carriers onboarded, with more than 350 carriers, brokers and 3PLs qualifying as Premier Carriers.
- 63 percent increase in the number of drivers – now totaling 377,000 individuals – using its CarrierLink mobile app.
- Greater than 70 percent growth in connected facilities, now totaling over 6 million individual facilities.
The Gartner report also highlighted FourKites’ strong customer presence across key verticals, including food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, chemicals, manufacturing, paper and packaging, pharmaceuticals and retail as one of the key strengths that helps us qualify as a partner of choice. FourKites works with more enterprise companies valued at over $1 billion than any other vendor in the Magic Quadrant, and the company has received the highest volume of four and five-star reviews on Gartner Peer Insights (specifically, of 96 reviews as of April 19, 2021, 97 percent are four- and five-star ratings), a platform for public peer reviews on solutions.
