Stracker: Rethinking Urgent Logistics in the Age of AI

In the supply chain, urgency is often an overused word. But for Axel Bandiaky, it is a daily, repeated, structural fact. Founder of Stracker, he is building an innovative company that combines high-value transport management, integrated artificial intelligence, and a transparent business model. A rare equation, designed to reconcile logistical rationality with operational requirements.

The story begins at Air France, where Axel completed a pivotal internship in a subsidiary specializing in freight. Not just any freight: cargo integrated into passenger flights, intended for critical parts for aircraft maintenance. “We shipped high-value components, often urgently, with extreme time constraints. The problem was that traceability was non-existent.”

This flaw becomes a trigger. In 2017, he founded Stracker with a precise vision: to create a real-time tracking solution adapted to urgent flows. Thanks to embedded IoT sensors and a proprietary web application, customers can visualize their shipments as they would track an Uber. The interface displays the route, break points, customs statuses, and incidents. A first in this field.

But the commercial launch in February 2020 coincides with pandemic chaos. The transport sector explodes, but the logic changes. “Customers were paying for it to arrive, not to know where it was. Traceability alone was no longer enough.” This is the moment of pivot. Stracker transforms into a freight forwarder. The startup ceases to be a support tool. It becomes an operator, a complete transport manager.

Concretely, Stracker assembles the service providers necessary for a shipment: road carriers, customs brokers, hold agents, handlers, delivery drivers. It builds transport plans, coordinates stakeholders, and monitors their execution. But unlike traditional logistics companies, it rejects the commission-based model. “This system creates a distortion: the more expensive the transport, the more the intermediary earns. We wanted to be in objective consulting.”

Billing is therefore based on two options: a monthly subscription or a flat rate per file, independent of the final transport cost. This transparency creates a dynamic of trust, particularly in sectors sensitive to pricing, such as aeronautics or luxury.

This is where artificial intelligence comes in. Stracker develops a proprietary system based on transport “blocks.” Each shipment is broken down into segments—pickup, customs, flight, delivery—with analyzed historical alternatives. The AI can then compose an optimal combination based on the context: cost, past performance, provider reliability, weather hazards, hold space availability.

“Our AI is capable of proposing a complete plan, with a budget per provider, a time simulation, and even a pre-draft of instruction emails. But it never validates alone. Financial commitment remains human.” Each operation is supervised by a logistics specialist. The AI suggests, the human decides.

On the customer side, automation is also progressing. Stracker has developed an AI that directly processes incoming requests, even informal ones. “We often receive emails like: ‘We need to send ten looks for tomorrow night’s gala.’ The AI understands that these are bulky garments, it calculates the estimated weight, volume, preparation time, and proposes a priced logistics plan.”

This processing enables decisive responsiveness, particularly in the luxury sector. Few fashion houses have a structured logistics department. It is often the press, events departments, or even interns who manage transport. Stracker assists them with an AI designed as an operational assistant, capable of interpreting industry semantics and translating them into logistics parameters.

The promise is clear: “No increased costs due to urgency. Our pricing structures are fixed. Just because an event happens tomorrow doesn’t mean the price should double.” This stance attracts major fashion houses, who appreciate budgetary consistency in high-pressure environments.

In aeronautics, Stracker supports airlines in their daily maintenance. “An aircraft is 4 million parts. Every day, several parts need to be replaced. Our customers call on us to ship critical components between suppliers and maintenance centers.” Again, deadline control is vital. A grounded aircraft is expensive.

Stracker is currently balanced between these two verticals: luxury and aeronautics. The team has 16 people. Revenue has grown from 400,000 to 3 million euros in three years. Next step: build-up. The company is preparing to acquire a competing player to deploy its technologies. The goal is not to centralize, but to create a distributed, interconnected network, sharing the same technological backbone.

Among the innovations in progress, an unstructured context conversion module is already operational. It transforms emails, WhatsApp exchanges, or customer verbatim into data usable by the AI engine. This allows the company to quickly digest a large volume of interactions without human overload.

Stracker already serves other segments: robotics (Wandercraft, Rive), prototype transport, material containing batteries, events, pharma, automotive. The link: sensitive, complex, non-repetitive flows, with extreme flexibility needs.

In this historically under-digitized sector, Stracker makes its difference. “Many logistics companies did not invest during Covid. They profited from the crisis without innovating. Today, they are unable to integrate AI, sometimes even simple digital tools.”

Axel sees a strategic opportunity there: to buy or support these struggling structures, without disrupting them. “The idea is not to replace humans. It’s to give them back time. AI takes care of time-consuming actions. Humans focus on customer relationships.”

The model is based on a hybridization of tools: web interface, telephone, emails. No brutal disruption. Just smooth, augmented orchestration. It’s not a culture change. It’s a collective skill upgrade.

The ambition is clear: to make critical logistics a technological, structured, transparent sector. To transform emergencies into controlled operations. To restore a peaceful customer relationship, where trust replaces suspicion. And to prove, through numbers, that AI, when well integrated, is a concrete lever for competitiveness.