Freightos Conference: New CEO, Q1 Transactions Miss, and 15% Workforce Cut to Boost Profit Path

Key Points

• Pablo Pinillos was promoted from CFO to CEO and the company is sharpening execution with a clearer operating cadence, a solutions‑led go‑to‑market and more selective investment in initiatives with calculable customer value.
• Freightos recorded **425,000** Q1 transactions, up 15% year‑over‑year but below expectations due largely to Middle East geopolitical disruptions that affected key routes and air corridors, even as the network grew to 79 carriers and buyer users remained higher YoY.
• Management launched a cost optimization program including a up to 15% workforce reduction, targeting roughly $4.5 million in annualized savings (and ~$1.3 million one‑time restructuring costs) to drive toward adjusted EBITDA breakeven by the end of 2026.

Freightos NASDAQ: CRGO outlined recent leadership changes, first-quarter platform activity trends, and a new cost optimization program as the company reiterated its focus on execution and a path toward profitability, according to comments from Chief Strategy Officer Ian Arroyo during a conference update.

Business model and revenue mix

Arroyo described Freightos as a digital platform connecting carriers, freight forwarders, and shippers, and said the company increasingly views its business in two layers: a “solution side” that includes software, data, and procurement tools embedded in customer workflows, and the resulting “platform activity” reflected in transactions and bookings.

Arroyo said Freightos has reached a scale where it generated “over $29 and a half million” in revenue in 2025. He added that solutions contributed “approximately 2/3” of revenue, with platform activity contributing “around 1/3.” He also said the company is integrating with “dozens of carriers globally” and works with “thousands of freight forwarders and importers and exporters around the globe.”

Leadership transition and operating focus

Arroyo said Pablo Pinillos, previously the company’s chief financial officer, was appointed CEO in mid-March, roughly a year after joining as CFO. According to Arroyo, the move gave Pinillos a close view of Freightos’ strengths and areas needing greater focus.

Over the last two months, Arroyo said Pinillos’ priority has been to establish “a clear operating cadence” and sharpen execution, including a solutions-led go-to-market approach and cost discipline. Arroyo said this has included “clearer ownership within the business,” tighter cross-team alignment, and a stronger focus on delivering commitments, aimed at improving “consistency and predictability” in execution.

Strategy: more selective investment

While Arroyo said Freightos’ long-term vision has not changed, he emphasized that the company is applying its strategy “much more selectively” by prioritizing areas with “clear, calculable customer value,” clear monetization, and strong return on investment. He said the company is reducing emphasis on more experimental initiatives that are not directly tied to core workflows and revenue.

In practical terms, Arroyo said this means:

• Embedding solutions more deeply into procurement, pricing, and booking workflows
• Improving product integration and reliability
• Being more deliberate about where the company invests and how it scales

Q1 platform KPIs and geopolitical disruption

Arroyo said the company reported its Q1 2026 platform KPIs in mid-April, with full earnings expected toward the end of the month. He said Freightos recorded 425,000 transactions in the first quarter, up 15% year-over-year but “below where we expected to be.”

According to Arroyo, the primary driver was geopolitical disruption in the Middle East, which reduced activity on affected routes as several hubs—including Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia—were “completely shut down,” alongside disruption to major air corridors. However, he said that outside the impacted routes, activity across the rest of the network continued to grow, including increased use of alternate routes on the platform.

On the network side, Arroyo said Freightos reached a record 79 carriers, up from 77 in the prior quarter. He also reported approximately 20,600 unique buyer users, which was slightly down sequentially due to regional disruption but still higher year-over-year. Arroyo characterized this as continued network growth alongside a clear regional impact on activity, underscoring both short-term sensitivity to global events and the demand for tools providing visibility, pricing, and execution in a volatile environment.

Cost optimization program and profitability target

Arroyo reiterated a prior commitment, saying the company aims to reach adjusted EBITDA breakeven by the end of 2026. He said recent actions are a continuation of that plan, with Freightos aligning its cost structure to prioritize investments tied to customer value and monetization while reducing spending in areas less directly linked to those outcomes.

As part of that effort, Arroyo said Freightos announced a cost optimization program that includes a workforce reduction of up to 15%. He said the program is expected to generate approximately $4.5 million in annualized cost savings starting in the fourth quarter of 2026, with about $1.3 million in one-time restructuring costs. Arroyo said the objective is to align the organization with priorities and support the company’s profitability path, rather than cost reduction “on its own.”

Looking ahead, Arroyo said Freightos continues to pursue its long-term goal of digitizing global freight and is bringing its marketplace, solutions, and data closer together under what the company calls “One Freightos.” He said this is intended to deepen integration into customer operations across pricing, procurement, and booking, expanding Freightos’ role from enabling transactions to supporting decision-making within those workflows.

In closing, Arroyo summarized the changes since February as the completion of the leadership transition, the reporting of first-quarter platform KPIs, and the announcement of cost actions supporting the adjusted EBITDA breakeven target by the end of 2026.

About Freightos NASDAQ: CRGO

Freightos, trading under the symbol CRGO on Nasdaq, operates a digital booking platform designed to streamline international freight logistics. The company's core offering, the Freightos Marketplace, allows shippers and freight forwarders to compare and book air, ocean and trucking services online, providing rate transparency and live booking capabilities. By aggregating quotes from a global network of carriers and forwarders, Freightos enables customers to secure competitive prices and manage bookings through a single interface.

In addition to its marketplace, Freightos offers a suite of SaaS solutions for logistics professionals.

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