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Flexport Sues Former Employees for Alleged Trade Secret Theft in Rival Startup Launch

Flexport accuses Freightmate AI's founders of stealing proprietary data, including source code, to accelerate the development of their competing logistics technology company.

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Flexport's lawyers said in a lawsuit filed on March 12 that two former employees stole Flexport's documents and source code before setting up their own competitor, Freightmate AI.

Overview

  • Flexport has filed a lawsuit against former employees Bryan Lacaillade and Yingwei Zhao, alleging they stole trade secrets to create Freightmate AI.
  • The lawsuit claims Zhao downloaded over 70,000 confidential documents, including source code, while still employed at Flexport.
  • Flexport alleges the stolen data was used to unfairly accelerate Freightmate’s development, which the defendants deny, stating the files were inadvertently retained and unused.
  • Freightmate, which launched its first product in mid-2024, raised $5 million in seed funding earlier this year and plans to defend itself in court.
  • Flexport seeks monetary damages, the return of its proprietary documents, and a court injunction to prevent Freightmate from using the allegedly stolen information.