Aeler raises cash for boxes

BACKED TO THE HILT

CONTAINERS • AELER’S MISSION TO TRANSFORM THE CONTAINER AND ITS ROLE IN THE GLOBAL LOGISTICS CHAIN HAS BEEN WELL SUPPORTED BY THE MARKET, HIGHLIGHTING ITS POTENTIAL

THE FREIGHT CONTAINER has changed little since it was first developed more than 60 years ago: it remains basically a metal box with two doors at one end and a wooden floor. Such lack of innovation seems incongruous these days, when there are so many technologies available to improve efficiency.

That was what Naïk Londono and David Baur felt when they were working together as students at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland; and in 2018 they founded Aeler to bring to the market a new kind of transport container, manufactured from composite materials and with state-of-the-art electronics embedded in its design to provide end-to-end visibility and intelligence over the container and its cargo. That was the start of what the two cofounders termed ‘LogTech’, which they saw as a new industry sector that could improve and disrupt traditional logistics services through the use of technology.

The value of that concept was tested earlier this year when Aeler sought financing on the market; it raised CFr 7m ($7.5m) in an oversubscribed offering, with shareholders now including financial managers, IT specialists and logistics providers. Commenting on the success of the financing, Bertrand Piccard of the Solar Impulse Foundation, an early supporter of the company, said: “The Solar Impulse Label exists to show governments and business leaders that solutions that are good for the environment represent the biggest market opportunity of our century. We labelled Aeler back in 2019 and this investment confirms that investors too see Aeler’s potential.”

Londono added: “The support we’re receiving from both investors and customers - many leaders in their field - validates Aeler’s transformational approach to what’s now becoming a fast-changing market.” That approach means leveraging new technologies, particularly composite materials and IoT systems, marking a massive leap away from the dumb box that has been the workhorse of international logistics for six decades. “Today, this hot, often rusty, unconnected metal box is increasingly out of sync with the demands of both business and the environment,” Aeler’s founders say. ROOM TO GROW The funding was sought to help meet rapidly growing demand for Aeler’s new generation container - especially in the food & beverage, chemicals, FMCG and luxury sectors - and expand its Container As A Service (CAAS) model, an innovative subscription-based model that gives customers timely and flexible access to Aeler’s containers, another innovation that gives shippers more control over their supply chain.

Aeler’s Unit One container is lightweight but robust and is designed to be insulated as well as carrying more payload than a traditional container – its flat walls provide 11 per cent more storage volume. Together with its aerodynamic design, that delivers a 20 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions during transport.

To achieve this lighter yet stronger container, Aeler partnered with top universities, including the laboratories at EPFL that were involved in the development of the composite material used on Solar Impulse, the solar-powered aircraft that circumnavigated the globe without fuel in 2016. The Aeler container has been CSC-certified and design patents are pending.

“The logistics industry is ripe for a new technological breakthrough. With the Aeler container, we are reworking the very foundations of this trillion-dollar industry,” says Baur. www.aeler.com