Sequoia Capital Leads Group Pumping in Cash to Startup Next Trucking
Next Trucking has received $21 million in a round of financing led by Sequoia Capital, the freight marketplace startup announced Jan. 30.
As part of the package, Sequoia partner Omar Hamoui will get a seat on Next Trucking’s board of directors.
Next Trucking is an online freight matching platform that launched in 2015.
When you live in SoCal, you get to meet some wonderful companies. Excited to be working with @lidiayan2012, @elton523, and the team at @nexttrucking! https://t.co/4zadvoMckt
— Omar Hamoui (@omarh) January 30, 2018
“Logistics is at the very core of our economy, yet it faces some real challenges,” Hamoui said. “Next Trucking has created a marketplace powered by sophisticated technology that resolves many of the critical imbalances that exist between the shipper’s needs and driver’s availability.
“The team has tripled revenue year-over-year, and earned extremely high satisfaction and retention numbers on both sides of their marketplace.”
A screenshot shows available loads on Next Trucklng's freight marketplace mobile app. (Next Trucking)
According to Next Trucking, the problem with traditional freight brokerage is that the process is manual and usually requires many phone calls. The process can be slow and sometimes includes contentious negotiations on rates. Brokers also post loads on DAT and Truckstop.com, but drivers still need to call a phone number in the listing. Some large brokers also offer proprietary load boards through in-house mobile apps.
Next Trucking is among a group of startup businesses that believe technology can solve these problems and accelerate the brokerage process. Ride-sharing company Uber launched a freight platform last year, and others, such as Convoy, Trucker Path, Cargo Chief and uShip, also have successfully launched online marketplaces.
Next Trucking touts its software as “intelligent” technology that allows the trucker to dictate desired routes, freight and rates. Available loads are automatically matched to the vetted carriers based on predictive analytics.
“Instead of letting the rapid decline of qualified carriers continue to and potentially destabilize our supply chain, and economy in general, we need to overhaul the way the industry works and empower the truckers,” Next Trucking CEO Lidia Yan said. “We couldn’t watch this happen from the side of the road, so Next Trucking developed the first online marketplace that mitigates the negatives by building a strong, transparent community.”
