Article written by Steve Banker
There have been several articles published on the trucking industry that describe the money flowing into startup firms that are looking to disrupt the freight industry the way that Uber disrupted the taxi industry.
Here’s some excerpts from a Wall Street Journal article: “Investors are pouring millions of dollars into startups hoping to disrupt the $700 billion (US) trucking industry, the latest example of Silicon Valley’s efforts to upend the traditional economy.”
“A series of startups are vying to become an Uber of trucking,’ leveraging truck drivers’ smartphones to quickly connect them with nearby companies looking to ship goods. The upstarts aim to reinvent a fragmented U.S. trucking industry that has long relied on third-party brokers, essentially travel agents for trucking who connect truckers with customers.”
Actually, the startups are not looking to disrupt just trucking, there are startups focused on other modes of transportation as well. Further, they are not just focused on the North American freight market; CargoX, for example, is focused on Brazil.
But the authors are not wrong about the venture capital. An analysis of CrunchBase, an online database for investors and companies seeking funding, shows over $170 million invested since the beginning of 2015 in tech startups focused on longer haul freight moves; and well over half a billion dollars invested in last mile type solutions. For a list of the startups and an explanation for why I doubt that these are good investments in most cases, please see the following ARTICLE.
Original Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-uber-freight-apps-seek-transform-industry-steve-banker/