A $2.75 billion startup founded by two former Amazon managers is dedicated to eliminating waste in trucking and it just crushed a massive goal

• Seattle-based digital-freight company Convoy announced Wednesday that it had fully automated the brokerage process between trucks and shipments in its top markets, a first in the competitive digital freight industry.
• The $2.75 billion unicorn startup announced that it had automated the process in matching trucks to shipments in the Convoy network using algorithms on its app back in February.
• Its latest announcement allows truckers to also negotiate prices on its app, saving hours of negotiation via emails and phone calls.
• Convoy says that its technology cuts down time and improves service for shippers using Convoy. The company thinks this gives them an advantage in the $800 billion trucking industry, which tech giants like Uber and Oracle are also rushing to disrupt.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Seattle-based trucking startup Convoy just hit a new milestone in the digital freight business.

The company announced Wednesday that it has automated the price-bidding process, which truckers use to negotiate with companies before transporting shipments. That's on top of the company's February announcement, which said that it had successfully automated the process of matching truckers with loads.

"The way [digital freight brokering] traditionally works is that you have these different brokers who get shipments from large and small companies, and their job is to find someone to transport those loads," Convoy's Chief Product Manager Ziad Ismail said. The problem is that manually identifying available truckers and collecting bids can often take hours.

Complimentary Tech Event

Transform talent with learning that works

Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

Now, the company says that no middleman is needed in a once-cumbersome process. Convoy has fully automated the process of brokering, using algorithms to both match truckers with loads and negotiate the prices at which truckers will transport them.

Ismail says the benefits of its service go both ways: truck drivers save hours spent hunting for work, which Convoy says ultimately helps them earn more. Shippers meanwhile find trucks faster, which helps them deliver better service.

And Convoy itself benefits off a "substantial cost advantage," Ismail said. Automated brokering is now offered in Convoy's top markets, such as Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, and Los Angeles, the company said.

Disrupting an established industry

For years, brokers contributed toward a wasteful process, as the task of coordinating with truckers and shipping companies left trucks sitting empty for days. In fact, 15% to 25% of American trucks on the road are empty, according to the Environmental Defense Fund. Truck drivers also suffer from inefficiency in the industry: almost 63% of truck drivers surveyed in a study last year said they waited at least three hours every time they were at a shipping dock.

Now, the tech industry is rushing to challenge the $800 billion trucking industry's biggest companies, and to automate the process in which America's 1.8 million truck drivers are matched with jobs. Its entrants include tech giants, like Uber and Oracle.

Four-year-old Convoy, founded by two ex-Amazon employees in 2015, seems to have the funding to also be a major force in the industry. The company most recently raised $400 million, boosting its valuation to $2.75 billion, and counts Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff among its many investors.

Ismail said that Convoy was only profitable in specific markets, while it was still looking to grow and consolidate its presence in other markets. But the company's product manager stressed Convoy's role in leading industry innovations.

"Convoy was the first company to announce 100% automated matching," Ismail said, referring to the company's February announcement. "Even now, there's no other company that's been able to achieve that."

Here's what the Convoy App looks like: