INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Convoy, the digital freight network that connects truckers with shippers, has raised $400 million in a Series D funding round as it aims to
scale its business amid an increasingly competitive market.The funding round brings Convoy’s post-money valuation to $2.75 billion.The
round was co-led by Generation Investment Management and previous Convoy investor T
Asset management firm Baillie Gifford, which has fondness for pre-IPO tech companies, Fidelity and Durable Capital Partners, as well as
Series C investors CapitalG and Lone Pine Capital, also participated in the round.Convoy has managed to attract a slew of high-profile
investors — and their capital — such as Jeff Bezos, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and even U2’s Bono and the Edge
In the four years since its founding, Convoy has raised a total of more than $668 million
Early investors include Greylock Partners, Y Combinator, Cascade Investment (the private investment vehicle of Bill Gates) and Code.org
founders Hadi and Ali Partovi.And that money has been put to work
Convoy co-founders Dan Lewis and Grant Goodale set out in 2015 to modernize freight brokerage, a fragmented and oftentimes analog business
that matches loads from shippers with truckers.The company has gone from hundreds of loads per week in 2016 to tens of thousands per week
Notably, Convoy’s platform handles 100% of the matching, as opposed to having humans complete the task.Convoy also has about 100 routes,
many of them concentrated around economic hubs such as Chicago, Michigan and California, Lewis told TechCrunch.The 850-person company wants
to accelerate those efforts with capital raised in this latest round
However, it’s bound to face more competition
Uber Freight, Loadsmart and Flexport are just a few online marketplaces that are targeting freight.Convoy has added new features to its
platform as part of its scaling strategy
The company launched in 2019 an automated reloads feature that allows truckers to book multiple loads at a time
It also added Convoy Go, which allows drivers to bring their truck cab and hook up to a trailer pre-filled with cargo.
