When the Red Sea Crisis hit, most shippers absorbed the spike in container rates. One vehicle distributor didn't. They had partnered with @PillarHQ in advance. Their freight lanes were already hedged before any crisis arrived. When rates went up 3x, they saved freight charges while competitors paid the market rate and called customers to have difficult conversations about the landed prices. That's not a lucky outcome. That's what container freight hedging looks like. The reason this is still rare: 99% of companies that move goods by container have never heard of hedging. Ship owners and large charterers have used it for decades. The importer, the freight forwarder, the commodity operator who pays for freight and needs to quote a landed cost that still holds when the ship docks — nobody built a way for them to manage this. Until now. Upload your shipping manifests or bills of lading. Pillar maps your voyage exposure, builds a hedge tied to your actual shipping routes, and monitors it around the clock as markets move. Every hedge links to a physical voyage. No generic positions, no unmatched exposure. Protection against spot-rate volatility on your container tradelane of choice. 20ft and 40ft containers, standard and HC. If you have a spot contract, lock in rates for up to a year. If you are on a longer-term contract, make sure the rate actually holds and protect yourself from GRIs and surcharges. The freight bill you quote in January can look very different by April. It doesn't have to.

The world is fragmenting. Supply chains are shifting. Volatility is no longer cyclical - it’s structural. Yet most businesses still manage risk on spreadsheets and phone calls. In a world of tariffs, wars, and supply shocks - that doesn't hold up. Markets move too fast. Today we’re publicly launching Pillar, and announcing an additional $20m in investment, led by @a16z. Pillar is an AI copilot for commodity and currency hedging - built for real world operators like you. We monitor your physical exposures and manage risk in real time - protecting your margins at all times. If you operate a physical business, let’s talk!