Profitable ClearJet raises $25M to scale asset-light cargo network
Austin-based ClearJet has secured $25 million in Series B funding after reaching profitability by using AI to route e-commerce packages through unused passenger flight capacity, threatening traditional parcel carriers.
ClearJet, an Austin-based logistics startup, has raised a $25 million Series B round led by Edison Partners. The capital injection brings the company's total funding to $40 million since its 2022 inception. Unlike typical venture-backed growth companies, ClearJet is already profitable and approaching nine figures in annual revenue after tripling its top line year over year.
The company operates an asset-light network that matches shippers with empty cargo space on commercial passenger flights across 95 U.S. airports. By avoiding the capital expenditures of building a proprietary fleet, ClearJet claims it can cut shipping costs by up to 35% and reduce delivery times by one to three days. "We’re basically connecting with the already moving aircraft," founder and CEO Chris Guggenheim said. "These flights are going from A to B city. We’re taking those same routes, and that’s just why we’re so fast. That’s also why we’re so cost efficient."
Retailers and e-commerce platforms integrate with ClearJet via an API to generate two-day shipping labels. The startup handles pickup, airport sorting, and screening before loading goods onto flights in custom overpack bags designed for narrow-body passenger planes. Upon arrival, packages are handed off to final-mile providers like FedEx, the U.S. Postal Service, DoorDash or Uber.
The financial performance attracted Edison Partners, which had previously watched asset-heavy logistics startups fail. Ryan Ziegler, who leads the firm's vertical SaaS and AI practice, noted the structural advantages of ClearJet's approach. "Candidly, most of them went bankrupt because they took an asset-heavy approach to the middle mile," Ziegler said. "When you think about what they built, it is a very unique aviation infrastructure platform, and it’s difficult to replicate. He’s proven the business model, and the unit economics work."
Artificial intelligence manages the routing of the more than 30 million packages ClearJet moves annually, optimizing for cost, speed, and geography. The company is now deploying AI agents to automate booking, tracking, and disruption management, such as rerouting packages around weather events by leveraging its multi-airline partnerships. "We’re building an entire agent team, an army of agents that do everything that the humans were doing," Guggenheim said.
The funding arrives as global investors pour capital into logistics technology, with supply chain startups raising $8.4 billion in 2026 so far. ClearJet currently captures only a small fraction of the roughly 1.8 billion U.S. parcels it deems eligible for air transport. The company plans to use the new capital to expand into returns and international shipping, aiming to capture a larger share of the direct-to-consumer delivery market.
