FreightWaves has covered Convoy’s Series B funding, as well as their potentially game-changing play to offer “automatic detention pay” for drivers caught in bad shipping detention situations. But only this week Convoy revealed that members of one of the world’s all-time greatest rock bands, U2’s Bono and The Edge, quietly invested in the company last year.
Convoy declined to disclose the amount of the investment, but it’s hard to see how they’re getting anything less than some serious “Elevation” from the partnership. The U2 lead singer and guitarist were introduced to the company by Hadi Partovi, a Convoy board member, investor and CEO of Code.org. The news coincides with the recent start of U2’s 2018 Experience + Innocence Tour.
“Bono and The Edge know more about trucking than you might think. They’ve spent most of their adult lives touring the world with U2, and trucks are an essential part of moving the show from city to city,” said Convoy CEO and co-founder Dan Lewis in a post announcing the investment. “When they heard about Convoy, they loved that we are using technology to empower millions of truckers to grow their businesses while at the same time reducing empty miles and waste.”
The company is a digital freight broker, using technology to connect truck drivers with excess capacity to shippers looking to move freight — including Fortune 500 companies — automating traditionally a slow and time-intensive process. Convoy works with 15,000 trucking companies and 100,000 truck drivers, and has grown to 225 employees.
“When [U2’s Bono and The Edge] heard about Convoy, they loved that we are using technology to empower millions of truckers to grow their businesses while at the same time reducing empty miles and waste,” said Lewis.
Every year, commercial trucks run empty over 100 billion miles in the U.S. alone. Driven by its mission to transport the world with endless capacity and zero waste, Convoy has built the largest technology-connected network of small trucking companies in the country. By optimizing this network, Convoy efficiently delivers truckload freight in a way that improves truck drivers’ livelihood and reduces the 7 percent of all greenhouse gases that come from trucking.
With a growing platform that more efficiently matches small trucking companies with freight that needs to be shipped, Convoy is leading the way in technology and transportation innovation for truck drivers – the #1 most common job in America, that impacts thousands of American families, and for a more environmentally sustainable future.
The investment by Bono and The Edge was not part of the Series B round last year, led by Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund, the investment arm of Silicon Valley-based accelerator Y Combinator. Total funding in the company now tops $80 million.
The Convoy rock star founders, Dan Lewis and Grant Goodale, will also be panelists at FreightWaves forthcoming Transparency18 Conference in Atlanta this May 22-24.
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