It’s been a banner year for Loadsmart, the New York- headquartered digital freight technology company.
The firm in November raised $90 million in Series C, following a major expansion of its multimodal network into less-than-truckload, partial and rail.
Landing on FreightWaves’ 2021 Freight Tech 25, an annual ranking of the most innovative companies, adds to the list of accomplishments.
“We’re honored to be selected for the third consecutive year as an innovator in freight technology,” Hunter Yaw, vice president of product management, partnerships and marketing, told FreightWaves in an email.
Loadsmart made the FreighTech 25 list in 2019 and 2020.
The award “further affirms the value of the work we’ve done and partnerships we’ve created over the last 12 months,” Yaw said, noting the company continues to make investments in cutting edge technologies. “We deeply value the confirmation FreightWaves has provided us with this recognition.”
Founded in 2015, Loadsmart rolled out as its initial service truckload instant pricing and booking. Server-to-server autonomous truckload booking via API and TMS integrations followed in 2016, and drayage and transload digital services in 2019.
Yaw noted that despite the volatility in the market this year, Loadsmart witnessed an accelerated — “and long overdue” — shift in the freight sector from analog to digital.
“Our adoption rate in Q2 was higher than all of 2019 combined,” he said, “further attesting to the industry’s desire to advance and optimize operations through the use of technology.”
The company’s broader goal as it continues to roll out new products, according to Yaw, is to “ensure we’re a one-stop shop for digital logistics execution.”
Narrowed down from the 2021 FreightTech 100, the 25 companies on the list were ranked by 80 members of the logistics community, ranging from venture capitalists to founders.
Accounting firm Katz, Sapper & Miller (KSM) audited the process.
“The goal of the FreightTech 25 is to see how the market perceives the most innovative and disruptive companies in the space,” said FreightWaves CEO Craig Fuller.
“Unlike a lot of awards in logistics, this is an award where we bring in the community. We bring in folks that have a perception and a perspective on who the most innovative companies are.”