A pre-series A funding round lead by a newly-launched New Zealand-based seed fund has been awarded to Taiwanese online logistics developer, LetsCargo.

LetsCargo is using the proceeds of a $700,000 per-series A seed funding round to boost its presence in Taiwan and neighbouring regional markets, with a particular focus on China.

Backed by funding from New Zealand VC firm, Global From Day One, LetsCargo serves 5,000 clients across its platform which allows users to search for sea and air freight quotes through sales offices in Xiamen, Shenzen and Shanghai.

The start-up target market for the start-up included freight forwarders, importers and exporters, and has worked with third-party institutions to provide working capital financing to forwarders.

Global From Day One, which is dual-headquartered in Taipei and Auckland, will help the 2015 graduate of Chinese accelerator, AT Work, to target shippers who have not yet embraced digital work initiatives.

“The logistics sector has a very low level of IT utilisation [but] in this case, ‘old school’ isn’t a good thing,” said LetsCargo chief executive and founder, Eric Chou.

The global logistics market is set to grow at 7.5 per cent CAGR, up NZD$10.46 trillion by 2023.