Convoy’s digital marketplace is back on the market following the demise of the Seattle startup and subsequent technology acquisition by Flexport.
Logistics giant Flexport this week launched the “Convoy Platform,” a streamlined version of Convoy’s tech that connects shippers and truckers, FreightWaves reported.
The launch comes just a few months after Flexport acquired technology assets from Convoy, a one-time Seattle startup darling that reached a $3.8 billion valuation in 2021 before its surprising collapse late last year.
“I’m so proud to see Convoy’s technology platform and marketplace relaunch this week within Flexport,” Convoy co-founder and former CEO Dan Lewis wrote on LinkedIn. “The feedback from the trucking community has been amazing.”
Lewis is now a technical advisor at Flexport, which also hired a small group of employees from Convoy as part of its acquisition.
More than 500 people were laid off as part of Convoy’s closure in October.
Founded in 2015 by Lewis and Grant Goodale, former Amazon employees, Convoy raised huge gobs of venture capital dollars as investors poured billions into logistics startups that aimed to boost efficiency using the latest technology.
But Convoy couldn’t overcome a freight recession and dampened investor appetite, two factors that contributed to its shutdown.
Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen said his company hit a “home run in the first inning” with the relaunch of Convoy’s digital trucking marketplace.
“We brought back some of the biggest customers and on our first day live we successfully dispatched almost 200 full truck loads to our driver network for them,” he said on X, adding that “the Convoy team that joined Flexport relaunched this, we just gave them the license to go execute!”
Founded in 2013 out of San Francisco, where it is based, Flexport offers services including ocean, air, truck and rail freight, drayage and cartage, warehousing, customs and compliance, financing and insurance, and more.
Flexport itself has dealt with layoffs and executive departures over the past year amid the shaky freight market.
Former longtime Amazon exec Dave Clark, who joined Flexport as CEO last year after a 23-year career with Amazon, departed in a surprise move in September. Clark has since removed Flexport from his LinkedIn work history.
Several other ex-Amazonians, including many based in the Seattle area, also left the company last year.
