Fleetune continues evolving for smarter route optimization

Fleetune Inc., a South Korean transportation management service (TMS) platform-developing startup, is gearing up for a big leap next year with relentless upgrades to its TMS platform to attract more customers at home and abroad, said its chief. “We expect to pass the breakeven point early next year,” Kim Jiseong, chief executive officer of Fleetune, said in an interview with the Korea Economic Daily last month. “And then our revenue for 2025 is expected to jump 10-fold from this year.”Founded in May 2022, Fleetune officially launched its transportation management service platform, Fleetune TMS, in August 2023. The service started with a route planning and optimization service for parcel delivery and shuttle bus services and was later upgraded with new features such as the Driver App navigation service for drivers, as well as Fleetune Coming, a service allowing its clients to track drivers and delivery status in real time. Fleetune users can now track the driving records of each driver on the platform, which can be used to pay drivers for vehicle operation costs such as toll fees and petrol charges. “Every time we meet clients, they always have new demands,” said Kim. “This has led to constantly evolving our service ... We update the program at least once or twice a week to cater to these new demands.”MOBILITY-AS-A-SERVICE Fleetune TMS is a mobility-as-a-service offered under different subscription plans for different logistics services. Powered by machine learning, it recommends the best-optimized route for multiple destinations to ensure the most efficient way of dispatching drivers, delivering parcels and transporting people in a limited time. Drivers can access Fleetune’s optimized navigation service via the Driver App, where they can also find important information regarding delivery orders and share delivery status updates in real time. Fleetune TMS' distinguishing feature is a time constraint function, which helps shippers reduce the number of cars they use, meaning less cost, said the Fleetune founder. “Our route optimization can reduce car operation costs by as much as 40% per order,” said Kim. Fleetune’s strength also comes from its developers’ capabilities to provide tailor-made TMS services for different clients, said Kim.The company’s engineers develop proprietary algorithms. Founder and CEO Kim also develops them thanks to his 20-some years of software engineering experience at Hyundai Motor Group-backed autonomous driving technology startup 42dot Inc. and other tech companies developing set-top boxes, satellites and games. “We are capable of a full stack development from algorithms to backend, frontend and apps,” said Kim. The startup relies on a local navigation developer, INAVI Systems Corp., for real-time road information and map services in Korea, he added.HYUNDAI TO KYOCHON AND HOME TO OVERSEAS Fleetune's clients include Korean construction company Hyundai Engineering’s shuttle bus operation unit, Korea’s car-sharing platform pioneer SoCar and companies in the food and beverage sector, as well as the fashion industry. Korean fried chicken franchise giant Kyochon recently signed a contract to use Fleetune TMS to deliver ingredients to about 1,300 Kyochon franchises across Korea. Fleetune plans to venture into other logistics sectors such as medicine delivery, said Kim. The Korean TMS market has great growth potential, said Kim, adding that its target clients are shippers who want to save logistics costs in various sectors. Fleetune TMS has steadily attracted new clients even without active outbound marketing, the CEO said. The company, however, plans to launch more active outbound marketing next year to beef up sales by 10-fold next year from this year. GOING ABROADThe Korean startup also plans to launch active marketing in Australia early next year, probably in January, Kim said. “Our algorithm can be applied to any type of map or navigation services regardless of country,” said Kim. “We could launch our service in Spain in two weeks. We just need to add a new target language.”Earlier this year, Fleetune was selected as one of 20 Korean startups to receive support from Asan Voyager, a program designed to assist Korean startups entering the US by providing acceleration, coaching, community learning and long-term residency support.The company raised 100 million won ($68,000) in a seed funding round in 2022 and then 500 million won from TIPS for R&D for two years and an additional 200 million won later. However, it has no plan to kick off a pre-A Series funding round any time soon, Kim said. “For the future generation, I hope our company can contribute to society by addressing social and environmental problems with our service designed to help reduce the unnecessary operation of cars on roads,” said Kim. By Sookyung Seo skseo@hankyung.comJennifer Nicholson-Breen edited this article.