- Digital freight operator Convoy Inc raised $160 million in new funding that values the load-matching business at $3.8 billion positioning it for a potential IPO.
- Convoy substantially completed the Series E funding round led by Baillie Gifford & Co, T. Rowe Price Associates Inc, and others during the fourth quarter of 2021.
- Convoy also bagged a $150 million line of credit from JPMorgan Chase & Co and a $100 million loan from a specialty finance company Hercules Capital Inc in March.
- The new backing will help tap the surging customer demand within the nation's $800 billion trucking industry.
- The backing will help tech startup Convoy looking to use digital tools to make freight marketplaces more efficient, add workers, and expand services while bringing the business closer to profitability, the Wall Street Journal reports.
- It will also help to bolster a "drop and hook" service in which drivers pick up shippers' preloaded trailers. Convoy looks to expand its fleet of trailers for the service, called Convoy Go, by 35% to 40% by the end of 2022.
- The funding round followed a $400 million round in November 2019 that valued the company at $2.75 billion, WSJ notes.
- The new funds brought Convoy's total equity and venture debt raised to $928 million.
- Convoy acknowledged that half its 200 job openings were in data science and engineering.
- Convoy's 2021 revenue surpassed $750 million and was on track to exceed $1 billion in 2022, as per WSJ.
- Convoy was profitable on a per-unit basis, making a profit on individual shipments, but unprofitable overall due to its fixed costs.
