Cedar AI

Market position

Described by an investor and a private-market data provider as a leading AI-powered TMS for the rail supply chain, said to be used by premier railroad operators and shippers. A data provider lists Bourque Logistics (79% similarity), Hiab Corporation (76%) and Kaleris (75%) as comparable companies within mobility, transportation and logistics.

Positioned as a single configurable platform spanning the full range of rail operations rather than separate point tools, tying operational events directly to billing, accruals and interline settlement so that revenue capture is automated from car arrival through revenue recognition. Named differentiators include Optiswitch AI switch-plan optimization, the offline-first Cedar Mobile field app, no-code automation workflows, and automated ingestion of rail-specific data feeds (EDI, AEI, CLM, carrier ETAs).

Technology

Cloud-native, fully web-based platform (ARMS) with an open API. Technology elements cited include ingestion of rail industry data feeds (EDI waybills, consists, AEI events, carrier ETAs), AEI reader, GPS telemetry and CLM data consolidation for real-time tracking, configurable rate engines, automated interline settlement, no-code if-this-then-that automation workflows, and the Optiswitch AI switch-plan optimization engine. Cedar Mobile is an offline-first native iOS and Android application. A third-party profile also tags computer vision and predictive analytics. Public engineering repositories reference Python, Go, Rust, TypeScript, Java, PostgreSQL, Bazel builds, Envoy and AWS tooling.

Go-to-market

Direct enterprise sales via a "Schedule a Demo" motion on the company website, with the platform marketed as distinct configurations of ARMS for each rail-industry segment (railroads, industrial shippers, transload terminals, fleet owners, industrial switching operations and intermodal terminals). The company also publishes open-source and forked engineering repositories and a Cursor plugin (cedar-mcp) providing read-only MCP access to the CedarAI Data Depot / ARMS.

Railroads (including Class I and shortline operators), industrial rail shippers, transload terminals, railcar owners and fleet managers, industrial switching operations, and intermodal terminals.

Geography

Headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Sources do not describe operations outside the United States; the platform is described as serving railroads and rail shippers, including Class I and shortline railroads.

History

Sources give a founding year of 2017. An earlier company profile describes roughly two years of work with Class I and shortline railroads to develop the OptiSwitch planning and operations platform, at a time when the company was sized at 11-20 employees and backed by Felicis Ventures and Spider Capital. A later data provider lists 56 employees, seed investors including Global Founders Capital, Village Global, Spider Capital and Felicis Ventures, and a growth equity round on December 16, 2025. Nexa Equity records a November 2025 investment and lists Cedar AI as a current portfolio company. The product scope has broadened from rail yard switching optimization to the ARMS platform covering railroads, shippers, transload, fleet management, switching and intermodal operations.

Risks & controversies

Sources contain conflicting firmographic data, notably employee counts of 11-20 versus 56, and no round amounts or valuations are disclosed anywhere in the material. No revenue, customer counts or named references are published. No controversies, litigation or regulatory issues appear in the sources.