Trucking is a massive industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. alone, so a little innovation can go a long way.
Seattle-based logistics startup FreightWeb is using technology to make the trucking industry more efficient. On Tuesday, the company announced it raised $3 million in seed funding from Madrona Venture Group and 8VC to continue to do so.
The company offers unique partial truckload shipping that allows its customers to only pay for the space they need by consolidating shipments — saving the shippers money and lowering their carbon footprint.
Traditionally, shipping companies have had to pay for an entire truck, even if their shipment only takes up part of the trailer. But FreightWeb allows shippers to pay proportionally based on the size of their shipment, which saves them an average of 25 percent compared to the price of a full truckload, according to the company. The company has also built a website where shippers can get quotes and book freight services directly.
“Trucking is a large and essential component of the U.S. economy that has seen relatively little innovation,” Scott Jacobson, managing director at Madrona Venture Group, said in a statement. “The opportunities to apply technology to improve efficiency and reduce waste are tremendous."
FreightWeb was founded last year by a group of three co-founders who have previous experience working at FedEx, Amazon and other leading freight carriers.
Their upstart joins a growing field of logistics companies raising money to make freight more efficient using technology. In Seattle alone there’s freight SaaS platform Logixboard and Convoy — the latter of which raised $400 million in November.
Meanwhile on the national stage, Uber is expanding its own trucking and logistics business with Uber Freight.
