Nuvocargo

Deepak Chhugani (ex-Airtable), Leslie Caceda, and Palash Mathur found Nuvocargo during COVID-19 lockdowns. Despite the pandemic, cross-border US-Mexico freight is surging. Raise $12.5M Series A from Susa Ventures. Pitch: digitize the $40B+ Mexico-USA freight market, replacing fax machines and WhatsApp broker coordination with a real-time digital platform.

Tiger Global leads Nuvocargo's Series B as the nearshoring narrative reaches peak hype — US companies announcing Mexico manufacturing expansions after supply chain shocks. Total raised ~$57M. Valuation ~$300M. NFX, Susa double down. Global freight rates at all-time highs. Nuvocargo's margins look strong when every shipper is paying $15,000+ per container.

Global freight rates collapse 70%+ from 2021 peaks as COVID supply chain disruptions normalize. Spot rates return to pre-pandemic levels. Tech-enabled freight brokers face commoditization: traditional brokers drop rates to near-zero margins to retain volume. Nuvocargo's technology premium disappears — shippers choose on price, not platform features. Monthly volumes decline as customer retention weakens.

Nuvocargo shuts down operations in December 2023. Team of ~200 laid off. $57M raised returned in part to investors. Deepak Chhugani publishes a reflective post-mortem acknowledging the freight market timing mismatch. Nearshoring is real and accelerating — but the infrastructure investment cycle is 5-10 years, not 3. The startup did not have the runway to outlast the cycle.