Telegraph, a leader in railway logistics, announces $10M in Series A funding

Telegraph, a Chicago-based leader in building next-generation software for the freight rail industry, today announced $10.1 million in Series A funding. The latest round of funding was led by Crosslink Capital with participation from Slow Ventures, 9 Yards Capital, Motivate Venture Capital, and Extra Credit Ventures, as well as returning investors Construct Capital, 8VC, and BoxGroup. The funds will be used for hiring across all roles to enable expansion of the existing offering and growth of new platform features and functionality.
With increased pressure placed on supply chains over the past few years, Telegraph’s cloud-based solution for railroads, shippers, logistics providers, and railcar lessors is a highly attractive opportunity for supply chain innovation. On any given day, more than 40% of all goods in North America travel on a freight railroad and the pressure to move those goods more efficiently via a single, modernized platform is what Telegraph offers its customers. Telegraph’s solutions also lower the barrier for shippers and logistics companies to work with freight railroads - which remains the most cost-efficient and environmentally-friendly way to move goods.
Telegraph was founded in July 2020 by Harris Ligon, CEO, Amaro Luna, Chief Product Officer, and Shachar Astor, Chief Growth Officer. All three were employees at Uber Freight in its early days, helping launch the business and expand into new modes. While at Uber, the team incubated the Emerging Products division and was responsible for designing, launching, and scaling enterprise SaaS solutions. The broader Telegraph team is made up of top-tier talent across tech, rail, and logistics domains, with employees from Uber, Outdoorsy, Microsoft, Bloomberg, Coyote, Norfolk Southern, and BNSF.
Since the company’s $3.2 million seed funding, the Telegraph team has launched its suite of software products across railroads, logistics companies and shippers in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. To date, the company has saved customers thousands of hours in manual work and millions of dollars in accessorial charges.

“We are extremely fortunate to serve a transportation vertical that has been categorically overlooked. The past few years have been extremely challenging for global supply chains. Through it all, freight railroads never stopped working,” says Harris Ligon, CEO of Telegraph and a former railroader. “This round of funding is for our customers and the industry. We’re grateful for the support of our investors as we continue to build technology for the unaddressed needs of a transportation mode that is core to keeping our economy moving”.