Borders may be invisible to most shoppers, but for businesses, they often mean delays, extra costs, and reams of paperwork. That pressure has sparked a boom in new "customs tech" companies promising to speed things up.

Musician Matthew Gryspeerdt once ran a thriving violin business in southwest England — until Brexit. "I was really dealing in quite a large volume, let's say perhaps 1,000 instruments a year," he said. "I was both importing and exporting from the U.K., doing a lot of buying in France and also in the Czech Republic. The difficulties in the red tape and bureaucracy involved with importing made it very difficult."

The impact was so severe that Gryspeerdt had to scale down his business.

"I became an expert in import-export, rather than an expert in violins," he said. "Suddenly, the business, which had been quite fulfilling, just got bogged down in bureaucracy and paperwork."

Many small businesses now face similar challenges. That pain has created space for new technologies to emerge.

"It used to be such a boring subject," said Kelvin Tan, co-founder of Singapore-based GTR Ventures. "And never before has it now become so interesting and dynamic due to the onset of Trump tariffs."

Tan said global trade is now faster and more complex than ever. According to the World Economic Forum, cross-border trade has grown by a quarter in the last decade, while online retail sales nearly quadrupled between 2014 and 2021, leading to a flood of small packages moving across borders.

"One of the first disruptions in trade was the invention of the 20-foot container, and pretty much nothing happened since, until companies started to realize that, hey, we could use technology to streamline documentary trade," Tan said.

But the rules around trade are becoming increasingly complex. Anna Jerzewska, director of U.K.-based consultancy Trade & Borders, said that in a climate of global trade tensions, businesses must monitor changing tariffs closely.

"We now have a trade war," she said. "Companies need to know more about what tariffs apply on that given day. One day the tariff will be 30%, the next day 45% — and companies need to be able to keep track of that."

That complexity has opened the door for startups like Klearnow.ai, based in California. Its founder, Sam Tiagi, came up with the idea after struggling to import furniture.

"Today, we process tens of thousands of documents on a daily basis, but we are able to contextualize that by shipments," Tiagi said. "Every shipment has its information now residing for our importers and exporters in one place, and by doing so, they are able to make supply chain decisions."

Businesses are also reassessing where they locate their operations, in light of shifting trade policies in the U.S. and Europe.

"If you are a business today, you have to start looking at every option," Tiagi added. "You know, bringing into Canada and then bringing into the U.S., or should I just import directly into the U.S.?"

The investor community is taking notice. Santosh Sankar, co-founder of Tennessee-based Dynamo Ventures, said demand is growing.

"You're seeing them get phone calls from customers who have realized, 'Hey, because you have technology, you have more real-time data … we need your help in order to put out this fire we're currently dealing with,'" Sankar said.

Even industry giants are getting involved. Danish shipping company Maersk is building its own customs platform — a signal that big opportunities are ahead, according to GTR Ventures’ Kelvin Tan.

"All of a sudden, customs compliance is sexy again," he said.