fnGlobal Keynote & Roundtables with Bharath Krishnamoorthy (May 16, 2023)

When they decided to launch a fintech startup in the freight and logistics industry, Bharath Krishnamoorthy and his best friend and business partner Shawn Vo were first-time founders with experience in finance and law.

“At the time, a truck to me was just this thing you get stuck behind in traffic,” says Bharath. “I quickly learned trucks were only one small part of a large supply chain that involved several parties.”

Bharath and Shawn took passenger trains and intercity buses to visit each other in Washington, D.C. and New York. That’s when they became interested in how the economy moves people and goods. Dissatisfied with their day jobs, Bharath and Shawn quit their careers in M&A law and finance respectively to develop a platform to streamline the transportation industry.

A few years and a few iterations later, Bharath and Shawn launched Denim, a freight payments system for SmartBrokers. Denim’s platform offers an ecosystem of easy-to-use financing, payment, and automation tools.

In 2022, Bharath wrapped up the Series B funding round for Denim. The company raised $26 million in equity capital and $100 million in debt financing to fuel growth. Now, Denim is doing more than $15 million in payments each month.

In his global keynote for Founders Network members on May 16, Bharath will share insights from his experience using fintech to innovate the entrenched freight and logistics industry.

In the webinar, he will also discuss:

• Giving yourself space to be wrong
• Pivoting until you get it right
• How to play the meta game well

Opening Remarks @ 9:30am PT

Join us for opening remarks with Dina Fattom, Member Success Manager at Founders Network, to get the latest updates from the Network and opportunities for getting involved.

Keynote Speaker @ 9:40am PT

Bharath Krishnamoorthy is a lawyer and entrepreneur. With his high school best friend Shawn Vo, he founded Denim, a fintech platform for freight and logistics. Before founding Denim (then Axle Payments) in 2019, Bharath was an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

About Denim:

Formerly known as Axle Payments, Denim is a fintech platform for freight and logistics. It automates and accelerates payments for freight brokers. Denim raised $126 million in Series B funding. It has 100 full-time employees.

Stage-Based Roundtables @ 10:30 am PT

Community Partners:

Jeff Erickson

Jeff leads the Partnerships Team at Forecastr — a leading FP&A software company that helps startups create kick-butt financial models to impress investors, confidently raise capital, and effectively run their businesses better.

Jeff serves on the advisory boards of several startup companies and is an active angel investor. He's passionate about startups and enjoys working with founders and mentoring entrepreneurs.

Jeff is an experienced entrepreneur and was the founder and CEO of a successful consumer goods company that he rapidly grew from $1M in sales its first year to over $40M in annual revenue in its fourth year of operations and was ranked #138 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies.

Prior to founding his own company, Jeff was a partner at Beanstalk Partners where he led the sales and business development activities. He also served as the National Sales Director for a venture-backed tech startup where he generated over $45M in client contracts and developed the company’s channel partner program.

Jeff has a degree in accounting and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Utah. After receiving his MBA in Finance from the University of Utah he served as the Vice President of Investments for Sentry Financial Corporation.

Cathy Keeler

Cathy is the Managing Partner at FullScope Growth, a global consortium of elite Fractional Executives and Business Acceleration Partners that provide the exact combination of experts that organizations require.

She has cross-functional experience in sales, management, marketing and business planning, client services, network development and operations. Delivers strong results within highly competitive markets.

Guests Are Welcome!

Please bring a guest! Every member can bring one (1) guest to each event. Each guest must be a full-time tech startup founder so they can bring new perspectives, skillsets, and experience to your chapter.

All guests must be full-time tech startup founders and you can register them directly on this function page. See How to Register a Guest here.

Confidentiality Reminder

All information shared within Founders Network is strictly confidential. We are built on a foundation of trust, and the community takes confidentiality seriously. Investors, members, and staff all share experiences and opinions off the record. In this roundtable forum, we continue to model our fnValues of Reciprocity, Humility, Authenticity and Inclusivity.