Arizona-Based Digital Freight Company Emerge Raises $20 Million

By Noah Long ● Feb 12, 2020
  • Arizona-based digital freight marketplace Emerge announced it has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by NewRoad Capital Partners

Arizona-based digital freight marketplace Emerge announced it has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by NewRoad Capital Partners. And this funding round also included participated by Greycroft, 9Yards Capital, and several other investors.

Emerge’s freight logistics platform enables shippers to find reliable truck capacity at optimized shipping rates. And the cloud-based freight rate platform offered by Emerge is the first digital freight marketplace connecting shippers to direct carrier rates. Plus Emerge was designed to reduce shipper operating costs by facilitating contract optimization while improving service from quote to delivery.

Emerge is a digital freight marketplace that serves as a procurement platform for domestic trucking, said Emerge founder Andrew Leto. The platform has been adopted by several Fortune 500 companies and hundreds of SMB organizations that rely on our technology to reduce freight spend, improve visibility and increase operational efficiencies. Many of them have achieved double-digit cost reduction on their transportation spend.

Launched in 2018 by brothers Andrew and Michael Leto, Emerge has already processed more than $1 billion in freight and reported 1500% year-over-year growth from 2018 to 2019.

Uniquely, Emerge combines an exciting new technology designed to serve existing, unmet market need with experienced industry operators and entrepreneurs. Andrew and Michael are building the most innovative marketplace we’ve seen in the freight and digital marketplace industry — bringing contracts and carriers together to create new capacity. We are excited to be leading their Series A and I am thrilled to join the board to support their growth, added Tracy Black, operating partner at New Road Capital Partners.

Emerge has also assembled a board of freight industry leaders including Jack Holmes, the former President of UPS Freight — who has joined as Chairman of the Board. And Pat Reed, the former Executive Vice President and COO of FedEx Freight, also serves on the company’s board.

Black — who previously served as SVP of Information Technology at J.B. Hunt Transport — also joined the board since leading the Series A round of funding in Emerge.

We couldn’t be happier to have NewRoad lead our Series A, stated Michael Leto. They bring a strong mix of operational expertise and industry leadership to the table. We’re excited to add a category-leader and tech veteran like Tracy Black to the board and see what we will be able to accomplish together in 2020 and beyond.

Andrew and Michael Leto are multi-time freight industry founders. Before launching Emerge, the Letos launched GlobalTranz — which is a leading third-party logistics company. And they also launched founded 10-4 Systems, a freight tracking software company (acquired by Trimble).

We’re proud to have backed the Letos and Emerge since it was just a concept back in 2017, explained Will Szczerbiak, Principal at Greycroft. We believe we have the best, most experienced team in the trucking business and are excited to welcome NewRoad, who furthers our range when it comes to key relationships and background in the industry.

With this funding round, the company plans to expand the development, operations, and enterprise sales teams. And the company is moving into its brand new 37,000 square foot headquarters in Scottsdale, AZ in March 2020.