FourKites and strategic investor Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (“Mitsui”) have appointed Mitsui Knowledge Industry Co., LTD. (“MKI”) as the exclusive reseller of FourKites’ leading real-time supply chain visibility solutions in Japan. MKI, which brings decades of deep experience implementing transformational IT projects in Japan, will lead all go-to-market activities on behalf of FourKites, including carrier and customer engagements.
In addition, FourKites is now live with a localized Japanese platform — built under MKI’s guidance to ensure flawless translation and optimal user experience features — and for the first time is offering over-the-road (OTR) tracking for domestic shipments in Japan to complement its existing international tracking solutions.
“We are thrilled to be appointed FourKites’ exclusive reseller in Japan,” said Sho Nagamatsu, Executive General Manager, DX Sales Unit 2, MKI. “FourKites appreciates Japan’s unique requirements and the imperative to meet customers’ exacting standards for best-in-class technologies, service and support. We look forward to meeting and beating those expectations as we help our Japanese customers build more resilient and agile supply chains with the industry’s leading real-time visibility platform.”
The appointment of Mitsui affiliate MKI as FourKites’ exclusive reseller in Japan is part of Mitsui & Co., Ltd.’s $10M investment in the company, which is focused on delivering hyper-localized solutions for the APAC market and boosting FourKites’ capabilities across sales, customer service and operations. Together, FourKites and MKI will deliver on surging demand for FourKites’ platform in the region.
“Japan is one of the world’s leading supply chain and logistics hubs, and MKI is an ideal partner to help ensure we deliver against this market’s unique needs and high expectations,” said FourKites founder and CEO Mathew Elenjickal. “We look forward to working exclusively with MKI in Japan, and to introducing greater capabilities across the APAC region through our partnership with Mitsui.”
This announcement comes at a time when FourKites is experiencing strong momentum across APAC. FourKites ended 2022 with 91% growth in new customers in the region, and more than 240% growth in shipments tracked across 46 APAC countries. APAC customers include Nestlé Japan, Chevron Corporation, Kraft Heinz, SpaceX, Molson Coors, Bacardi and QVC.
In addition, in 2022 FourKites hit the following milestones in APAC:
- 146% growth in the number of carriers tracking loads
- 1.8B+ miles tracked
- 30% growth in the number of regional ports tracked, now totalling 282 ports
- 486% growth in the number of facilities tracked, now totalling 14K facilities
- Live OTR tracking throughout Australia, New Zealand, India, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia, with near-term expansion into additional countries in the region