Convoy
Canvas Category Software : Supply Chain : Logistics
The most efficient digital freight network. We move millions of truckloads through our optimized, connected network of carriers, saving money for shippers, increasing earnings for drivers, and eliminating carbon waste for our planet.
Assembly Line
Flexport buys Convoy’s tech
Freight company Flexport has acquired technology and a few dozen employees from Convoy, the one-time giant of the Seattle startup world that abruptly shut down last month. “We’ve acquired Convoy’s technology stack and are planning to retain a small group of team members from their core product and engineering team,” Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen wrote in a memo. “We are not acquiring Convoy the company or any of its liabilities and our expenses will be limited to what’s necessary to maintain the tech.”
🚛 Driving change: how hybrid carriers will finally unlock economies of scale in trucking
The future of trucking is neither traditional brokers nor asset carriers; it is a new model, which we will call the hybrid carrier.
This model gets materially better with scale, using technology to address the industry’s existing limitations and the reasons that trucking remains so fragmented. Hybrid carriers have a digital truckload marketplace, a universal pool of trailers, online drivers and equipment, and broad industry integrations, all running on a technology platform that uses data and AI to orchestrate everything, manage carrier quality, and generate actionable insights for shippers. By removing silos around truck and trailer capacity, these truckload platforms will benefit from network effects and other economies of scale, making them better and cheaper at scale and giving shippers compelling reasons to consolidate their freight spend for the first time.
The key ingredients of a hybrid carrier include
- Universal pool of trailers, all sensor-enabled and available to the carrier network for both live and drop-and-hook loads.
- A single digital marketplace for truckload volume and capacity.
- All drivers are online and connected throughout the job workflow.
- Digital integrations with shippers for seamless communications and data sharing.
- Technology platform to orchestrate supply & demand AND load execution.
Convoy Raises $260 Million to Accelerate Digital Freight Transformation
Convoy, the nation’s leading digital freight network, raised $260 million in new funding, comprised of a $160 million Series E preferred equity round led by Baillie Gifford and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., as well as a $100 million venture-debt investment from Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE: HTGC). The company also secured a new $150 million line of credit from J.P. Morgan. This new funding will enable Convoy to accelerate the development of its efficiency-focused technologies in response to surging customer demand within the nation’s $800 billion trucking industry. With the most recent equity investment, Convoy is valued at $3.8 billion.