Freehand Raises $75M Series B for AI Supply Chain Automation

Freehand's $75 million Series B arrives at a pivotal moment for enterprise supply chains. The startup's founders, Nitin Jayakrishnan and Abhijeet Manohar, spent six to eight years building Pando, a SaaS transportation management and procure-to-pay system for large enterprise logistics, before selling it to a strategic buyer in early 2026. That experience convinced them that traditional back-office paradigms were ripe for disruption—specifically that instead of forcing aging supply chain operators to catch up with sunsetting technologies, they could help them leap directly into agentic AI. Their timing aligns with macroeconomic shifts: tariffs, geopolitical tensions, and disrupted trade routes are straining the decades-old outsourcing model that previously ran global supply chains, making the case for internal automation stronger.

The investment also reflects broader momentum in the supply chain technology sector. Supply chain and logistics startups are on pace for their strongest fundraising year since 2022, with $6.2 billion raised in the first half of 2026 alone across 350 deals. Yet despite the sector's scale—supply chain and logistics is described as massive—technology spending there is just over $20 billion, a rounding error relative to the potential for AI-driven efficiency. Battery Ventures partner Dharmesh Thakker noted that Freehand stands out for founder market-fit, focus on Fortune 500 shippers rather than intermediaries, and measurable business outcomes—a critical distinction in an AI funding landscape often dominated by founders with limited industry expertise.