Transfix is an online freight marketplace that uses algorithms and machine learning to give full-load shippers better prices and truck owners better routes. Similar to Uber and Lyft, the company matches rides to vehicles, minimising wasted miles, and use algorithms to set prices based on supply and demand. The timing was good, with truckers, largely middle-aged men, having begun carrying smartphones and were willing to install the Transfix app.
Most trucking is done by contractors, and the vast majority of that by small operators who are desperate to keep their rigs full to cover the financing on those trucks.
Transfix, based in New York City’s Garment District, is on track to collect US$100m in shipping charges for 2018. It will remit the lion’s share of this gross revenue to people who own the vehicles.