customs-compliance
(4)
Kewill changed its name. The freight kept moving.
From parcel labels to a $115 million acquisition, Kewill built software for the awkward business of getting goods from here to there. Its journey through BluJay, e2open and WiseTech reveals what logistics companies were really buying: connections.
Magaya Put Freight Forwarders' Messy Back Offices in One Box - Then Learned the Hard Part Was Focus
A trio of Cuban founders wrote software for small freight forwarders from a family apartment. Twenty-five years, four acquisitions and 2,300-plus customers later, Magaya's useful lesson is not about adding features - it is about knowing which mess deserves one system.
Tarifflo
Tarifflo is an AI-driven trade automation platform that classifies products under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, files customs entries directly with CBP, and audits past import entries to recover overpaid duties. Founded in 2024 in Utah by ex-KPMG trade compliance specialist Bryce Judy and engineer Tanner Helms, it uses agentic AI to do work that traditionally required entire compliance teams and customs brokers, cutting hours of documentation to minutes. The company is a Y Combinator S26 startup.
Pax
Pax is an AI-native customs broker that automates and maximizes U.S. tariff refunds through duty drawback - the CBP program that lets companies recover up to 99% of import duties on goods that are later re-exported, manufactured for export, or destroyed. Founded by MIT PhD Penny Chen and repeat founder Chris Le, Pax pitches itself as 'TurboTax for duty drawback,' using LLM-powered document extraction plus deterministic optimization algorithms to file audit-ready claims in weeks instead of the industry-standard 9-12 months, while recovering roughly 15% more than legacy providers. The company raised a $4.5M seed round in 2025 and is a Y Combinator Summer 2024 company.