I broke the story that Convoy was going out of business. Dan Lewis will confirm this. Out of respect for Dan, Grant Goodale, and the hardworking team from Convoy, I gave Dan several extra days to find a buyer for Convoy instead of me immediately writing a LinkedIn post announcing the news. I recommended Flexport acquire Convoy’s IP in the post. ❌
DAT Freight & Analytics recently acquired Convoy’s tech stack from Flexport. While this may appear to be a “big move,” the strategic impact is marginal without fundamental changes to how freight is priced, matched, and transacted. DAT is bolting on tech from a failed startup to a legacy platform rather than reinventing the freight marketplace from the ground up. This is not transformative—it’s defensive.
I understand why DAT acquired Convoy’s tech stack, and I get what they’re trying to accomplish. However, is DAT Thinking BIG? In my opinion, no. DAT is trying to convince us they’re innovators. I’m not convinced.
When you have a CEO as skilled and capable as Jeff Clementz, I expect more from him and his team of executives. I’m not interested in seeing incremental improvement at DAT. I want to see Jeff and his team design and implement something new and visionary. What I want to see is something like the following:
Leverage U.S. Bank + Expedia Group + AI + Auction Science, to create a digital real-time transportation marketplace. Not a digital load board. DAT’s executive team will provide the trucking/brokerage subject matter expertise. This is a BIG MOVE.
Why this will work.
1️⃣. U.S. Bank brings trust and capital.
✅ Handles billions in freight payments annually.
✅ Can integrate real-time payments, escrow, fraud prevention, and smart contracts to revolutionize freight settlements.
✅ Enables factoring and fuel advances instantly through embedded fintech.
2️⃣. Expedia brings world-class auction + matching tech.
✅ Expedia solved the problem of dynamic pricing, bidding, and matching millions of travelers with flights and hotels. Freight is no different.
✅ Expedia can build a “load booking engine” that functions like travel search: filter by equipment, price, speed, and reviews. They can apply auction science to maximize carrier revenue and optimize shipper costs.
3️⃣ AI enables predictive matching and pricing.
✅ Trains on historical shipment, lane, and market data.
✅ Predicts capacity, adjusts prices dynamically, and automates dispatch.
✅ Can optimize for empty miles, driver hours of service, and network density.
✅ AI can simulate auctions to discover true market prices in milliseconds.
4️⃣ Shippers and carriers will embrace a digital marketplace.
The trucking industry doesn’t need another patched-up platform. It needs a revolution. The revolution starts by building a better model, not acquiring broken ones.
#Trucking #Logistics #FreightTech #SupplyChain #AI #FreightBrokerage #retail
https://lnkd.in/gXwq59yS
Original on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/brittainladd_dat-buys-convoy-platform-from-flexport-activity-7355815471385923584-HfDr