Convoy (company)

American trucking software company

Convoy

Industry| Trucking software
Founded| 2015
Founders|

* Dan Lewis
* Grant Goodale

Defunct| 2023
Fate| Operations shut down
Headquarters| Seattle, Washington
Website| convoy.com

Convoy was an American trucking software company co-founded by CEO Dan Lewis and CTO Grant Goodale.[1] The company was shut down in November 2023, while its assets and some of the employees were acquired by Flexport.[2]

## History

[edit]

Former Amazon employees Dan Lewis and Grant Goodale co-founded Convoy in 2015.[3]

On 25 July 2017, the company raised $62 million in Series B funding, led by Y Combinator's Continuity Fund. Other new investors included Cascade Investment CEO Bill Gates,[4] Mosaic Ventures, former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, and Barry Diller. This round of funding brought Convoy's total amount raised to $80 million.[5]

They joined existing Convoy investors Greylock Partners (the VC fund of LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman), Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos via Bezos Expeditions, former Starbucks President Howard Behar, Code.org founders Hadi and Ali Partovi, and the founders & CEOs of eBay, Instagram, KKR, and Dropbox, among others.[6]

Convoy was awarded GeekWire's 2017 Startup of the Year.[7]

In 2018, Convoy raised $185 million led by CapitalG at a $1 billion valuation.[8]

In 2019, Convoy raised $400 million, led by Generation Investment Management and T. Rowe Price at a $2.75 billion valuation.[9]

In June 2023, Convoy's co-founder and chief experience officer, Goodale, left the company.[3]

On 18th October 2023, Convoy canceled all shipments amidst rumors of an upcoming transition.[10]

On 19th October 2023, Convoy ceased operations and laid off remaining staff. Remaining staff were given no severance and were told their stock options were worthless.[11] In a memo sent that day to employees, Lewis points to "a massive freight recession and a contraction in the capital markets" as major factors resulting in the company's failure.[12] On 1st November 2023, supply chain company Flexport acquired Convoy's assets and retained a small group of employees for an undisclosed sum.[13] Convoy's co-founder and CEO, Lewis, joined Flexport as part of the deal.[2]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Bass, Dina (November 1, 2016). "Trucking Startup Convoy Inks Its Biggest Deal With Unilever". Bloomberg.com.
2. ^ a b Soper, Taylor (2023-11-01). "Flexport buys Convoy's tech; Convoy CEO Dan Lewis, other employees to join freight company". GeekWire. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
3. ^ a b Bek, Nate (2023-06-21). "Convoy co-founder Grant Goodale to step down from trucking marketplace startup after 8 years". GeekWire. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
4. ^ Calfas, Jennifer (July 25, 2017). "The Startup That Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos Are Both Invested In". Fortune.com.
5. ^ "In a first deal of its kind, Convoy lands $62 million led by YC's Continuity Fund". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
6. ^ Konrad, Alex (July 25, 2017). "Called The 'Uber For Trucks,' Convoy Raises $62M To Fend Off Uber Itself". Forbes.
7. ^ Taylor, Soper (May 4, 2017). "Revealed: Winners of the 2017 GeekWire Awards". GeekWire.
8. ^ "On-demand trucking app Convoy raises $185M at $1B valuation". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
9. ^ "Convoy raises $400 million to expand its on-demand trucking platform". TechCrunch. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
10. ^ Kingston, John (18 October 2023). "Convoy cancels all shipments, load board is empty, announcement upcoming". Frieghtwaves. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
11. ^ "Convoy collapse: Read CEO's memo detailing sudden shutdown of Seattle trucking startup". Geekwire. 19 October 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
12. ^ de León, Riley (19 October 2023). "Bezos-backed freight firm Convoy shuts down after slashing hundreds of jobs. Read the CEO's memo to employees". CNBC. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
13. ^ Bellan, Rebecca (2023-11-02). "Flexport acquires technology of former digital freight unicorn Convoy". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-02-27.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

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