Logistics is undergoing a profound transformation. Supply chains are diversifying. Sustainability is high on the agenda. Digitalization is sweeping through every single process

Shipsy embodies the changing face of logistics. The Indian company has developed an AI-powered, Software-as-a-Service (Saas) logistics management platform that digitally interconnects every link in supply chains – radically optimizing cost-, carbon-, and operational-efficiencies in the process.

That a business like Shipsy, with global ambitions from the outset, chose Dubai for its first international headquarters speaks volumes about how the emirate has become an overlapping trade and technology hub – putting it at the forefront of logistics’ new era.

End-to-end digitalization

“We started our operation way back in 2016,” says Harsh Kumar, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Shipsy. Initially focused on last-mile delivery issues, the company’s scope quickly expanded when its founders realized how little supply chains had been digitized.

Inspired by Bloomberg Terminal – which digitally connects the world’s major banks – Shipsy’s goal became an end-to-end platform that integrates every step between shipper, logistics carrier, and receiver. Such wholesale digitalization enables AI-powered optimization of everything from delivery routes to paperwork, reducing freight costs, shipping times, and carbon emissions in the process.

The model has proven a success. Shipsy’s platform processes over 10 million deliveries daily. “In terms of revenue, we have been growing at 80% to 90% year on year,” says Kumar.

And the company has expanded across four countries, establishing its first international headquarters in Dubai in 2021. Kumar says the emirate was a natural fit for the company’s goal of establishing itself in a central region from which it could grow globally.

But location wasn’t the only factor behind Shipsy’s calculations; Dubai has also been investing heavily in its logistics, technology, and trade infrastructure.

Logistics powerhouse

In the most recent World Bank Logistics Performance Index, the UAE ranks second for the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia – and 7th globally.

Dubai is doubling down. A key goal of the Dubai Economic Agenda 2033, ‘D33’ – which aims to double the emirate’s GDP by 2033 – is to make Dubai a top five global logistics hub.

“Dubai is a place where you can not only partner, but also grow and innovate together.”

— Harsh Kumar, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Shipsy

A raft of initiatives support that goal. The emirate is aiming to attract more distribution centers, as well as harnessing its logistical prowess to boost exports from manufacturers across a range of sectors – from automobiles and steel to food and personal care goods.

It is adding 7400 cities to its foreign trade map, and establishing economic corridors with Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia.

These initiatives build on existing schemes such as the World Logistics Passport, the world’s first freight loyalty program, that offers economic incentives to traders and freight forwarders for higher trade volumes between manufacturing hubs in the Global South.

Crucially, Dubai has also “invested a lot in cloud and other technologies,” says Kumar, providing the digital infrastructure that underpins a business like Shipsy.

It’s just one way in which the emirate has seeded an ecosystem that encourages innovation.

Innovation environment

Developing new technology requires “a breeding ground where people want to adopt and pay for it. Dubai provides that fully for us,” says Kumar.

The emirate is known for being amenable to emerging tech. It has embraced last-mile delivery drones arguably more than any other city, which Kumar explains requires a particularly open approach to regulation.

It is especially supportive of anything that advances its smart and sustainable city goals – as Shipsy’s data-driven optimizations do, leading to a partnership with Emirates Post.

Kumar says that collaboration with such a large public-sector body is typically difficult to achieve, but Emirates Post has a dedicated technology arm, 7X, which has made the process “very streamlined.”

“Developing new technology requires a breeding ground where people want to adopt and pay for it. Dubai provides that.”

— Harsh Kumar, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Shipsy

Such streamlined public-private partnerships are part of a matrix of support for innovative startups, that ranges from funding, accelerators and incubators, to regulatory sandboxes like the ‘D33’ initiative Sandbox Dubai.

The emirate also makes it easy to get started for a global-facing company like Shipsy. Kumar cites access to talent from across the world as a key factor in setting up in Dubai, highlighting the importance of a diverse workforce for navigating the idiosyncrasies of differing regions.

Kumar also cites Dubai’s ability to “accept any currency” as a factor in the ease of doing business, as well as the digitized processes for setting up that take “less than a month… [with] 70-plus free trade zones, so you can choose whichever suits your business.” 

Gateway to the world

Since setting up in Dubai, Shipsy has established two more international headquarters, and is rapidly expanding into Europe and Africa.

The company’s story demonstrates how the emirate has become not only a lynchpin for global trade, but a fertile environment for logistical innovation – and a global launchpad for cutting-edge businesses.