FreightWaves unveiled the winners of its 2025 FreightTech 25 awards on Thursday, the final day of the F3: Future of Freight Festival. This was the seventh year the FreightTech 25 list has been announced, and, true to form, it was full of surprises.
The FreightTech 25 honors the most innovative companies in transportation and logistics over the past calendar year and is open to transportation providers as well as technology companies.
Earlier this year, FreightWaves opened nominations for the FreightTech awards. An internal panel of FreightWaves experts narrowed down all the nominees to a list of 100 companies, the FreightTech 100. That list was then sent to approximately 80 CEOs, industry leaders, academics and investors who served as industry judges.
Those judges create their own ranked top 25 lists and send their completed ballots to HHM, a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based accounting and auditing firm. A simple points system, based on voters’ rankings, determined the FreightTech 25. A company scored 25 points for each first-place vote, with descending points through to the 25th place, which received 1 point. The companies were then ranked by total points. This scoring method mirrors that of the USA Today Sports College Football Coaches Poll, The Associated Press Pro32 rankings and the AP Top 25 for college basketball.
HHM Senior Account Becca Denison was on stage to help FreightWaves TV host Kaylee Nix and staff writer Grace Sharkey announce the winners.
This year, incumbent software firms and 3PLs proved their worth to their customers and partners during an extended slump for transportation rates. The companies generally recognized as most innovative tended to have the balance sheets and expertise to enable them to continue building through the recession.
The overall winner, Highway, took the seventh position last year, the company’s first appearance on the FreightTech list. The 2-year-old startup built an automated solution to help brokers vet their carriers and clean up their capacity networks, preventing fraud and accidents. Highway has seen explosive growth as the freight fraud problem has mushroomed, and it’s no surprise to see it at the top of the list this year.
Fleet management and transportation management system providers did well this year: Platform Science (2), Motive (8), Blue Yonder (17) and Goodship (23) all made the list.
Tech-enabled transportation providers that have built sophisticated connections, often with instant quoting via API, have taken increasing market share in a year when freight wasn’t always easy to win, and they’re well represented on the FreightTech 25. Amazon Freight (3), Flexport (7), J.B. Hunt Transport Services (11), Uber Freight (14), Echo Global Logistics (18), Arrive Logistics (21) and XPO (25) are all known for not just moving customers’ freight no matter the market conditions, but also for using technology to enhance the customer experience. Of those seven transportation providers, only three – Amazon Freight, J.B. Hunt and Arrive Logistics – were on the list last year.
Among payments companies, TriumphPay (15) and Denim (22) took honors on the list, while Gatik (9) and Aurora (25) represented the autonomous truck segment.
Booking platforms also did comparatively well: Cargado (10), MyCarrier (12) and OneRail (19) made the list. This year was Cargado’s and OneRail’s first appearances.