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Creating a inauguration that contend with your former employer can be risky . Apple , for example , once sued a former chip design executive who founded his own chip inauguration in a case that wasdroppedin 2023 .
A recent grammatical case involving logistics unicorn Flexport and a new competition shape by two former employee sheds light on those peril .
Flexport is process the duad aver that they stole thousands of its documents along with its beginning code to create their own rival startup , Freightmate AI — claims powerfully deny by Freightmate .
Both startup use engineering to automate complex logistics and shipping processes .
Flexport pronounce it believes Freightmate ’s COO Yingwei Zhao downloaded over 70,000 secret Flexport documents after he agree to form Freightmate with now - CEO Bryan Lacaillade while both were working at Flexport , perthe lawsuit , which was filed last week in a California court .
Flexport exact that Zhao take gradation to hide his track like using Incognito Mode on his web browser app to copy - paste a list of over 1,000 Flexport client . The suit of clothes aver that Zhao also download Flexport ’s source code from GitHub onto his USB ride .
A spokesperson for Freightmate tell TechCrunch , “ We gainsay Flexport ’s claims and intend to smartly defend ourselves in courtroom . ”
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Flexport decline to remark .
Freightmate admitted to being in possession of some files from Flexport but said the files were “ unknowingly retained ” and not access or used by Freightmate , according to the courtship .
Flexport claims recent growth swash by Freightmate would have been “ well-nigh impossible ” without information it insists was stolen . It is sue for unspecified damages and an injunction from the court of law , which could be used to stop Freightmate from using the allegedly stolen datum .
Flexport is based in San Francisco and was valued at $ 8 billion in a 2022funding round . It most recentlyraiseda $ 260 million round provided by Shopify at an unrevealed evaluation in 2023 .
Freightmate is found near Seattle and raised a $ 5 million seed round in January 2025led byWashington state VC firm Fuse Capital . Its pre - seed beat , whose amount was unrevealed , was ledby Wischoff Ventures .
