Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, pictured on September 13, 2018.
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Jeff Bezos is investing in U.K. digital freight forwarding and supply chain finance firm Beacon, Sky News reported Sunday, without stating its sources.
The Amazon CEO and world’s richest man is taking part in Series A fundraising worth $15 million for the British startup, Sky reported.
Freight forwarding is a trillion dollar industry, and Beacon aims to act as the booking agents between importers and exporters while facilitating trade logistics and finance, its website says.
Based in London and founded in 2018, Beacon’s investors already include executives from Uber, Google and Amazon, according to its site. Its chief technology officer, Pierre Martin, was formerly head of software engineering for Amazon’s package and freight transport technology.
The backing from Bezos, who has invested in numerous startups, would be a major boost for the company in its stated mission to be a global leader in logistics and trade finance.
Bezos himself owns a 12% stake in Amazon. The global e-commerce and cloud software giant is in regular competition with technology hegemons Apple, Microsoft, and Google parent Alphabet for the title of the world’s most highly-valued public company.
Amazon’s market cap at the close of trading on Friday was $1.215 trillion.