Haul Wins $10 Million Investment As It Gigafies Commercial Truck Driving

Here’s the latest idea for dealing with the commercial truck driver shortage—gigafying it. It’s only appropriate the move was dreamed up by two ex-colleagues at Uber Freight, creating Haul which uses its mobile platform to match drivers with commercial drivers licenses (CDLs) to driving gigs at trucking companies that have open assignments.

Barely three years old, the San Mateo, Calif. and Denver, Colo.-based company has caught the eye of investors. It announced Wednesday the closing of a $10 million funding injection led by B Capital Group, joined by previous funders, Hack VC, Next Coast Ventures, Pipeline Capital Partners, RPM Ventures, Value Chain Ventures, as well as new funders, Bam Elevate, FJ Labs, WTI and angel investor Will Redd, cofounder of ZipRecruiter.

Since its initial $3 million seed financing last year, Haul’s revenue has grown 30% month over month the company said.

Haul co-founder and CEO Timothy-James Henry described his relationship with co-founder and Chief Technical Officer Toan Nguyen Le while they were at Uber Freight as “water cooler buddies “looking at trucking through the freight brokerage lens.”

They wanted to come up with a method where the approximately 90% of the nation’s 3.6 million drivers with CDLs who don’t work for big fleets or own their trucks could easily find work on their terms and get paid immediately.

The partners also believed they could help solve the issue of the driver shortage, which the American Trucking Association estimates as about 80,000 drivers.

“There’s a shortage but there are a lot of people looking for trucking jobs. Every year about 1.8 million truck drivers looking for jobs,” said Nguyen Le. “There’s a mismatch in the entire industry—drivers not being able to stay on the assignment or work they want to do, too far from home, doesn’t match their preferences. For them it’s too tough or doesn’t match their schedule or pay doesn’t match their earning goal. We allow the driver and trucking company to match each other in a better way.”

Under its system, Haul becomes the driver’s employer of record and basically leases the driver to a trucking company that needs someone behind the wheel. Haul handles driver compliance and credentialing and other paperwork. The driver manages his or her end through Haul’s mobile app.

“We’re trying to take best parts of gig economy— the ability to have autonomy of selecting their work. The ability to see what you’re going to earn before you say ‘yes’. See what you earned immediately afterwards and be able to access your earnings immediately,” explained Henry.

For the trucking companies Haul’s system eliminates costly and time-consuming paperwork due to driver turnover which Henry estimates as $18 billion annually to credential, drug test, and document drivers when people move from job to job.

“When you think about gigafying anything we have to balance helping trucking companies keep service levels, not compromise on safety around that driver and being the employer of choice,” Henry added.

Every step of the process is monitored by Haul, according to Nguyen Le who explained, “we know the location, the time, we allow the driver to clock in, when the driver started the truck. We integrate with the smart device on truck, we double confirm the driver’s there, the shipment’s there, the truck is starting and we have a holistic view of the driver’s shift. When driver finishes his shift we verify he’s clocked out at the location, the truck is turned off, we know exactly the hours you worked so we underwrite that. That allows us to say, okay, you put in 10 hours, you earned $250 for today, click a button, 30 seconds later funding is in your debit card.”

Haul’s system aimed at solving the national truck driver shortage as well streamlining the overall shipping process was a key motivation for B Capital Group to invest in the company.

“We have invested in a team solving this national problem, supported by industry-leading advisors and investors,” B Capital Group General Partner Gabe Greenbaum told Forbes.com in emailed remarks. “Tim and Toan have spent many years in the logistics industry, partnering hand in hand with enterprise customers to build a better product for their needs, while also working alongside drivers to understand and serve their needs. Growing north of 300% year-over-year and continuing to execute on large-scale contracts, the company has demonstrated product-market fit, with massive tailwinds and product extension capabilities.”

With this new infusion of funds, Henry and Nguyen Le look to grow Haul, expanding its workforce and current service area beyond several markets in California.

“We want to be a national provider, we want to have a national reach. Freight moves beyond California,” said Henry. “A lot of these proceeds will focus on market expansion. More markets, more people. We really want to beef up our operational team.

He pointed to Texas as being a priority along with the states of Georgia and Pennsylvania describing them as “classic markets where a lot of freight is moved.”

The company also looks to “double down on headcount when it comes to engineering and product,” added Nguyen Le.

In the end, Henry says, Haul wants to be truck drivers’ employer of choice based on services provided and consideration of their needs.

“We owe so much to them,” Henry said. “They just want to be heard, respected and really compensated not only for their output but for their time.”