Borderlands Mexico: Desteia using AI to ease looming customs compliance crunch

Desteia using AI to ease looming customs compliance crunch As U. S. companies brace for stricter enforcement of Mexico’s Manifestación de Valor Electrónica (MVE) requirements on June 1, supply chain technology provider Desteia is launching an autonomous platform aimed at reducing compliance headaches for importers moving freight south of the border.

Mexico’s mandatory electronic customs value declaration requires importers to file an MVE for every shipment entering the country before freight can clear customs. Beginning June 1, errors in filings can trigger fines and shipment delays, while liability now falls directly on the importer rather than the customs broker.

Mexico-focused trade technology company Desteia said its newly launched Auto-MVE platform automates much of the filing process by extracting shipment data from emails and logistics documents, organizing the information and preparing submissions for Mexico’s customs portal.

“We built the tool literally last fall,” Francois Lavertu, co-founder of Desteia, told FreightWaves during an interview. “The companies started telling us, ‘You’re already pulling the same documents we need for compliance. Why don’t you apply your technology to that flow?’” Desteia, founded in 2023, is a New York-based startup with operations in the U. S.

and Mexico. The company was founded by former Tesla executive Lavertu, along with Stanford engineers and entrepreneurs Diego Solorzano and Austin Poor.

Desteia aims to simplify logistics operations by using AI to extract and organize information from unstructured data sources such as emails, messages and logistics document Importers scramble for compliance solutions Lavertu said many importers remain unprepared despite Mexico delaying MVE enforcement multiple times. “They’re not ready,” Lavertu said.

“A lot of customers first tried to handle it in-house or push the work to customs brokers. But the brokers couldn’t legally take on the responsibility because the liability sits with the importer.”

Under the MVE rules, importers must upload and validate multiple trade documents, including invoices, bills of lading, certificates of origin, insurance records and Carta Porte documentation. A discrepancy between documents can trigger penalties or shipment holds. Desteia estimates that 37% of MVE declarations currently contain errors.

“The problem is not the submission itself,” Lavertu said. “The problem is automatically extracting, grouping and comparing all the documents before they’re ready for submission.” Lavertu said concern across the market has intensified in recent weeks as companies realize the scale of the operational burden ahead of the June 1 enforcement date.

Desteia recently opened registration for an AI-focused webinar on MVE compliance scheduled for May 27 and received nearly 600 signups within days, according to Lavertu. “Everybody is really anxious about what this means for their operation, for their teams and for the risk,” Lavertu said.

AI tool designed around cross-border operations Lavertu, who previously worked at companies including Tesla, Walmart, L’Oréal and LVMH, said Desteia originally focused on helping companies manage unstructured logistics data tied to cross-border operations in Mexico.

The platform scans trade team inboxes, identifies relevant shipping documents and groups them into digital “pedimento bundles” tied to customs entries.

According to Lavertu, Auto-MVE also converts documents into the file formats required by Mexico’s customs systems, automatically checks for inconsistencies between documents and retains filing information if Mexico’s customs portal goes offline during submission. “We don’t require anybody to change how they work,” Lavertu said.

“Everything’s automated and pulled from the systems they already use.” Desteia said the platform can reduce MVE preparation time from more than an hour to under five minutes per declaration. One customer handling more than 5,000 annual import operations reportedly saved more than 50 hours of manual work during its first week using the software.

Automotive, retail and manufacturing sectors face pressure Lavertu said the platform was designed primarily for large multinational importers operating in sectors such as automotive, retail, consumer packaged goods and manufacturing.

The automotive industry faces particular challenges because every auto part imported into Mexico now requires its own MVE filing. For manufacturers operating just-in-time supply chains, filing mistakes could create broader production disruptions. “This has opened a Pandora’s box into checking that things are right in trade,” Lavertu said.

“Companies are realizing suppliers may have been putting incorrect pricing into invoices or other documents.” Lavertu said the broader trend reflects Mexico’s ongoing push to digitize customs enforcement and improve oversight of cross-border trade. “The MVE is not an anomaly,” Lavertu said in Desteia’s launch announcement. “It is part of a delibe