It’s been named GeekWire’s 2017 “Startup of the Year,” and now it’s looking like Convoy may become the largest trucking logistics company in the world.
Casually described as “Uber for trucking,” Convoy’s tech-based freight solutions are based off the same business model as ridesharing services. The company’s free 24/7 mobile app matches shippers with carriers for on-demand transport that can be tracked in real-time.
Last week, Budweiser producer Anheuser-Busch signed a multi-year contract with Convoy to increase its supply chain efficiencies. In signing the agreement, Anheuser-Busch joined an elite team of investors that include Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Henry Kravis of KKR, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and eBay Motors founder Simon Rothman.
“Convoy serves a tremendous need for the trucking industry,” said Hoffman and Rothman in a joint statement. “In order to compete, shippers and carriers need the networks between them to be more efficient so they can operate faster and with greater flexibility. Convoy creates a connected system that massively increases efficiency, transparency, and scheduling, and this innovation is the future of logistics.”
Fellow investor and Code.org co-founder Hadi Partovi is just as enthusiastic about Convoy’s future. In an interview with GeekWire, Partovi referred to the $800 billion trucking industry as the biggest market opportunity since Facebook.
“I couldn’t be more excited about Convoy,” Partovi said. “I haven’t seen a bigger market opportunity since 2005 when I got involved with Facebook as an advisor.”
Opportunity it is, because so long as Convoy’s tech-based freight solutions continue to save time, money, and energy, investors will keep piling on by the truckload. But that’s not to say that the company doesn’t have competition.
From this point forward, Convoy’s greatest challenge will be outdoing its top competitors, Transfix and Uber Freight. However, with backers like Jeff Bezos, those other companies don’t stand a chance.
