iContainers

What iContainers does

iContainers is a digital freight forwarder headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, founded in 2007 and operating under the legal entity iContainers Solutions S.L.U. The company operates an online platform that enables customers to quote, book, and manage international ocean freight (FCL and LCL), air freight, air express, international moving, LTL trucking, customs clearance, and cargo insurance services. Its platform aggregates more than 500,000 air and ocean freight quotes across 40,000+ global trade lanes, serving a customer base of over 10,000 businesses and individuals worldwide. It is led by co-founder and CEO Iván Tintoré, with co-founder Carlos Hernandez serving as US Managing Director, and operates with 51-100 employees.

The company's core product is a self-service digital freight platform whose central differentiator is AI-Driven Shipping Intelligence, powered by VelocityOS AI, which automates quoting, pricing, sales workflows, and customer interactions in real time. Supporting capabilities include real-time shipment tracking with status notifications, multi-carrier quote comparison, automated documentation, and a suite of logistics calculators (freight cost, CBM, transit time, volumetric weight). The platform is structured around five customer-segment solutions: import/export businesses, international relocations, moving companies, freight agents (including WCA, Parnity networks), and customs brokers. The company is a member of the WCA, Feteia, and Ateia freight associations and maintains a strategic partnership with Shipa Freight for complementary service coverage.

iContainers generates revenue through transaction fees and markups on freight forwarding services, operating a product-led growth model in which customers access the platform directly, generate instant quotes without sales intervention, and complete bookings and payments online. Distribution combines a direct self-serve channel targeting SMBs and individuals with a freight-agent network channel targeting mid-market resellers. The company has raised approximately $8.3 million across three disclosed funding rounds in 2008, 2015, and 2016, with the most recent being a $6.7 million round led by Serena Capital in June 2016. No public revenue figure, ownership changes, or subsequent funding events are disclosed in the source data.

Name

iContainers

Legal name

iContainers Solutions S.L.U.

Website

http://www.icontainers.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

iContainers is a Barcelona-based digital freight forwarder whose self-service online platform enables quoting, booking, and tracking of international ocean and air freight shipments, serving over 10,000 import/export businesses, individuals, freight agents, and customs brokers across 40,000+ global trade lanes.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Freight Forwarding

NAICS

Freight Transportation Arrangement (488510), Support Activities for Transportation (488)

SIC

Arrangement Of Transportation Of Freight & Cargo (4731), Deep Sea Foreign Transportation Of Freight (4412)

akta.pro primary industry

Ocean Export Forwarding (Booking/VGM/SI/BL) (TLACABAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Customs Brokerage for Ocean Shipments (Import/Export Clearance) (TLACABAG), Buyer’s Consolidation & Origin Cargo Management (OCM) (TLACALAC)

Keywords

• International freight forwarding
• Ocean freight services
• Air freight services
• Customs clearance services
• International moving services

Headquarters

HQ city

Barcelona

HQ country

Spain

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Freight Forwarding Services: Fees charged for arranging ocean freight (FCL/LCL), air freight, and related logistics services. Revenue derived from markups on carrier rates, customs clearance services, and delivery solutions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

iContainers is a digital freight forwarder that operates an online platform enabling customers to instantly compare, quote, book, pay for, and track ocean freight (FCL and LCL), air freight, air express, international moving, LTL road freight, customs clearance, and cargo insurance services. The platform leverages AI-driven shipping intelligence to automate quoting, pricing, and customer interactions across 40,000+ trade lanes and supports both commercial shippers (import/export businesses, freight agents, moving companies, customs brokers) and individual relocators via self-service.

Product overview

iContainers is a digital freight forwarder based in Barcelona that offers a unified online platform for international freight forwarding. The platform provides ocean freight (FCL and LCL), air freight, air express, international moving, LTL freight, customs clearance, and cargo insurance services. Key product features include AI-Driven Shipping Intelligence (automating quoting, pricing, sales, and customer interactions), real-time shipment tracking, and instant freight quotes from over 500K options. The platform includes multiple tools (freight cost calculator, cubic meter calculator, transit time calculator, chargeable weight calculator) and serves different customer segments including import/export businesses, individuals relocating internationally, moving companies, freight agents, and customs brokers. The company also maintains a blog and freight resources hub for industry insights and educational content.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Ocean Freight FCL (Full Container Load) Full container load shipping service for transporting 20ft or 40ft containers by ocean; merchandise has exclusive use of container space. Targeted at businesses and individuals with large-volume international shipments.
• Ocean Freight LCL (Less than Container Load) Less-than-container-load ocean shipping for pallets, boxes, or loose cargo; economical option for smaller-volume shipments. Targeted at SMBs and individuals with smaller international cargo volumes.
• Air Freight International air freight shipping service for boxes or loose cargo; the quickest method for low-volume and urgent shipments. Targeted at commercial shippers and individuals with time-sensitive cargo.
• Air Express International parcel and courier shipment service for packages, parcels, and boxes; fast shipping at transparent rates. Targeted at businesses and individuals sending smaller parcels internationally.
• International Moving Door-to-door international relocation service for individuals moving internationally. Includes professional packing, transport, customs clearance, and delivery of personal household goods. Targeted at individuals relocating overseas and at moving companies serving those end clients.
• LTL Freight (Less Than Truckload) Domestic road freight shipping service for shipments that do not require a full truckload. Targeted at businesses needing domestic overland shipping for partial loads.
• Customs Clearance and Delivery Solutions for US Imports Customs clearance and DAP delivery solutions specifically for US imports, bundling customs processing with final-mile delivery. Targeted at shippers and brokers moving cargo into the United States.
• Customs Clearance and Duties Assistance Customs clearance services including assistance with duties, documentation, and delivery solutions for imports, particularly US imports. Targeted at importers and brokers needing clearance support.
• Cargo Insurance Cargo insurance service that protects shipments against loss or damage during international transit. Targeted at any customer shipping goods through the iContainers platform.
• Freight Forwarding Software (Digital Platform) Proprietary digital freight forwarding platform for quoting, booking, and managing shipments online from any device, enabling self-service end-to-end shipment management. Targeted at import/export businesses, freight agents, moving companies, customs brokers, and individual relocators.

Quantifiable outcome

• 500K+ air & ocean freight quotes searchable instantly
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Shipa FreightcoreStrategic or Co-development PartneriContainers works side by side with Shipa Freight to fully cover customer demands. Shipa Freight appears to be a complementary logistics partner extending iContainers' service capabilities.
• Velocity (VelocityOS AI)coreTechnology or IntegrationPowered by VelocityOS AI technology for AI-driven shipping intelligence capabilities embedded in the platform.
• WCA (World Cargo Alliance)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributoriContainers is part of the WCA freight agent network, providing access to global network of independent freight forwarders.
• FeteiaminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMember of Feteia freight association network.
• AteiaminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMember of Ateia freight forwarding association.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Flexport: Flexport is a leading digital-first international freight forwarder offering online ocean, air, and trucking services with a technology platform for quoting, booking, and tracking — directly overlapping iContainers' core digital forwarding model and target customers.
• Freightos: Freightos operates a global freight booking platform with a marketplace of ocean and air rates plus a SaaS freight management offering — closely comparable to iContainers' marketplace-style quote aggregation and digital booking experience.
• Shipa Freight: Shipa Freight is a digital forwarder for ocean and air shipments, explicitly named as a strategic partner of iContainers. It serves overlapping SMB and individual shippers with a similar online quote-and-book experience, making it both an ally and a head-to-head competitor.

Broad incumbents

• Kuehne+Nagel: Kuehne+Nagel is one of the world's largest traditional freight forwarders with a growing digital platform (KN FreightNet) — comparable to iContainers as a broad incumbent competing across ocean, air, and customs with increasing self-service digital tooling.
• DSV Panalpina: DSV is a top-tier global forwarder offering air, sea, and road freight plus customs — overlapping iContainers' service lines and customer base at greater scale and breadth while adding digital capabilities of its own.
• DB Schenker: DB Schenker is a major incumbent logistics provider with global ocean and air forwarding plus integrated digital platforms, serving many of the same import/export and moving customers as iContainers.

Emerging players

• iShippers: iShippers is a European digital freight forwarder offering online ocean, air, and road freight quotes and bookings with a strong focus on Spanish and European SMB clients — a regional emerging competitor in iContainers' home market.
• Container xChange: Container xChange is an online container marketplace and leasing platform — adjacent to iContainers in that it digitizes a specific slice of the container logistics stack (container trading and leasing) rather than full forwarding, but targets similar digital-first forwarder customers.
• Zencargo: Zencargo is a tech-enabled UK-based freight forwarder offering digital ocean, air, and road forwarding with a focus on European importers and exporters — directly comparable to iContainers' European SMB digital-forwarding positioning.

Others

• Xeneta: Xeneta is a freight rate benchmarking and market intelligence platform covering ocean and air shipping — not a direct competitor but closely thematically aligned with iContainers' value proposition of price transparency and rate comparison in international freight.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/iContainers
• Facebookfacebook.com/icontainers
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/icontainers

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about iContainers