Caspian Debuts AI Trade Platform with $5.4M Seed Funding
Caspian, an AI-driven customs compliance startup, has publicly launched its AI-powered global trade advisory platform after emerging from stealth, securing $5.4 million in seed funding. The round was led by Primary Venture Partners, with significant investment from Blank Ventures.
The San Francisco-based company, founded in 2024 by Justin Sherlock and Matt Ebeweber, aims to revolutionize global trade compliance by automating duty drawback and trade advisory services. This move comes at a crucial time, as businesses grapple with increasingly complex international trade regulations, fluctuating tariffs, and the challenge of reclaiming billions of dollars in unclaimed import duties.
Addressing a Costly Problem in Global Trade
Each year, a substantial amount of eligible import duties goes unclaimed by businesses due to the intricate and often manual nature of the drawback process. Duty drawback is a refund of certain duties, internal revenue taxes, and fees collected on imported goods that are subsequently exported or destroyed. Despite its potential to return significant capital to businesses, over 90% of eligible companies reportedly do not apply for duty drawback due to the complexity involved. This leaves billions of dollars on the table, impacting companies’ bottom lines and hindering their ability to manage tariff impacts effectively.
Caspian’s platform seeks to address this by ingesting and analyzing companies’ international shipping and inventory data to identify eligible duty refunds and submit claims rapidly—in days instead of months. This approach replaces traditional methods reliant on email chains and spreadsheets, allowing businesses to recover funds that would otherwise be lost.
Caspian’s Differentiators and AI Approach
What sets Caspian apart is its dual status as a U.S.-licensed customs broker and a Customs and Border Protection (CBP)-approved technology vendor. This unique combination allows Caspian to file claims directly with U.S. Customs on behalf of clients, or to partner with larger enterprises, customs brokers, and freight forwarders to enhance their existing trade advisory operations.
The company’s AI-native platform focuses on financial visibility and business growth, a departure from traditional global trade management software that often prioritizes criminal activity and general customs compliance. By connecting to clients’ trade records and inventory, Caspian’s AI identifies and calculates eligible drawback claims and handles the necessary documentation submission to regulators. This automation aims to provide a more complete outsourcing of financial services work compared to existing consultants, leading to cost reductions and improved profitability for businesses.
The Broader Landscape of AI in Trade
The investment in Caspian reflects a growing trend of venture capital flowing into AI applications for traditionally manual sectors. The global trade management software market is projected to exceed $2.2 billion by 2032, indicating significant growth potential. AI is increasingly being recognized as an essential driver of efficiency and resilience in global trade, offering benefits such as AI-powered insights for predicting market fluctuations, real-time data for agile decision-making, and automation of routine tasks in customs procedures and risk assessment.
However, the adoption of AI in international trade also presents challenges related to data quality, ethical concerns, and technological complexity. Despite these hurdles, new AI-first companies like Caspian are emerging, specializing in various stages of the trade process, from financial recovery to compliance and workflow automation. Even established players in the logistics and trade management space are actively integrating AI into their offerings, signaling a competitive and evolving market.
Investor Confidence
Primary Venture Partners, a New York City-based early-stage venture capital firm, led the seed round. Primary Venture Partners is known for investing in seed and Series A startups across various sectors, including SaaS, fintech, proptech, and consumer tech, often providing hands-on support to their portfolio companies. Blank Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm founded in 2021, also made a major investment. Blank Ventures has a diverse portfolio with investments in FinTech, Enterprise Applications, and High Tech, and actively seeks new investments, particularly in seed rounds for U.S.-based startups. Their recent investment in Caspian on July 29, 2025, highlights their continued focus on innovative companies within the business/productivity software and financial software industries.
Caspian’s successful funding round and public launch underscore the increasing recognition of AI’s potential to streamline complex global trade operations and unlock significant financial value for businesses navigating a dynamic tariff landscape. The company plans to utilize the new capital to expand its AI-driven platform, further enhance automation in tariff and drawback processing, and grow its presence in the global trade and compliance sector.