Donkey: The AI-native trading company: factory prices, delivered, one number

The AI-native trading company: factory prices, delivered, one number

Donkey is the AI-native trading company. Upload a buying list and we land the whole container at one locked, delivered price, tariffs included. You buy from Donkey: one contract, one company responsible for everything between the factory floor and your door. Our own people check the cartons before the factory gets paid, and the balance is due when the goods are accepted at your dock. Small businesses buy imports through three or four middlemen, each adding 15 to 30 points, because none of them can fill a container on their own. Big enough to buy pallets, never big enough to buy the box. Quotes float with freight, FX and tariffs and live 15 to 30 days. A trading company is rooms of people on the phone with factories, forwarders and brokers. Donkey runs that as one engine. It finds the real factory behind the customs record, stacks duty line by line, packs the container on weight and cube, and returns one number that holds from signature. Next comes the shared container: small buyers fill one box together at container prices, and every container earns better factory terms for the next one. Team in San Francisco and Wuhan, English and Mandarin. If your business buys pallets of anything imported, send us your buying list.

Active Founders

Benjamin Martindale

Founder/CEO

Grew up in his family's importing business in Toronto. Advised Chinese heavy-machinery giants on selling into the West and ran a Wuhan office in Mandarin. Featured on Mango TV, one of China's largest broadcasters: factory-floor segments and a named 13-minute profile. Founded a Toronto marketing company: $4M of construction deals closed in six months. Finance at Rotman, UofT, one credit short.

Benjamin Martindale

Founder/CEO

Grew up in his family's importing business in Toronto. Advised Chinese heavy-machinery giants on selling into the West and ran a Wuhan office in Mandarin. Featured on Mango TV, one of China's largest broadcasters: factory-floor segments and a named 13-minute profile. Founded a Toronto marketing company: $4M of construction deals closed in six months. Finance at Rotman, UofT, one credit short.

Minghao Tan

Founder/CTO

Co-founder & CTO. Donkey buys factory-direct in China and sells delivered to US importers. Customs records are public. We read them, flag the trading company markup, and quote the same parts straight from the factory that makes them. QC on the floor before the factory gets paid. I build the data side: parsing raw customs filings, separating real factories from shells and forwarders, and the software the whole trade runs on. donkey.trade

Minghao Tan

Founder/CTO

Co-founder & CTO. Donkey buys factory-direct in China and sells delivered to US importers. Customs records are public. We read them, flag the trading company markup, and quote the same parts straight from the factory that makes them. QC on the floor before the factory gets paid. I build the data side: parsing raw customs filings, separating real factories from shells and forwarders, and the software the whole trade runs on. donkey.trade

Company Launches

Donkey — the AI-native trading company

See original launch post

Everything gets cheaper by the container. Big companies buy the box. Small businesses buy from the people who bought the box.

Donkey turns the container into a cart. Upload your buying list and see every landed price instantly, tariffs and delivery included. Our engine packs the order, and when the load needs a bigger box, a second container steps in. When you sign, the price holds.

You buy from Donkey. One contract, one company responsible for everything between the factory floor and your door. If costs move under your locked price, that's our problem. And our own people are on those factory floors, checking what goes into the box before it ships.

Our AI agents read public customs records to find the real factories and pull their quotes. Duty gets stacked line by line. The pricing math is deterministic, not AI, so the number you see is the number you pay. Factory pricing and terms improve with volume, and Donkey's volume grows with every container.

A home builder in Oakland put 15 SKUs into one container with us and saved 38% versus buying piecemeal from distributors. We're starting with the people who build.

We're Ben and James. Ben grew up in his family's industrial supply business and helped Chinese industrial giants like Sany and Zoomlion sell into Western markets. James built agent systems for industrial supply chains at InstaLILY. We’ve lived both ends of the container.

If your business buys inventory, bring us your buying list. donkey.trade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De03vZOgJuU

YC Photos