SAN FRANCISCO & RYE, N.Y., Oct. 3rd, 2020– Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) and New York-based investment firm Greenbriar Equity Group and one of the leading investors in the logistics space invested $500 million in a Series A preferred stock financing for Uber Freight.
After this funding round the logistics arm of Uber, valuing the unit at $3.3 billion.
Uber will maintain majority ownership in Uber Freight and will use the funds to continue to scale its logistics platform and accelerate product innovation to equip shippers with technology to power their supply chains.
In connection with the investment, Michael Weiss and Jill Raker, Managing Partners of Greenbriar, will join the Uber Freight Board of Directors. With a combination of more than 40 years of investing experience in logistics, Mr. Weiss and Ms. Raker have been actively involved in many successful investments across the space, and will additionally draw on the counsel of the firm’s investment team and highly regarded network of operating partners in support of management’s vision for growth.
Uber Freight launched in 2017 with a mission to built one of the world’s largest digitally-enabled carrier networks and transformed logistics management for thousands of shippers.
Uber Freight’s driver-first carrier tools enable trucking companies and their drivers to book loads as seamlessly as they would book an Uber ride, while the company’s suite of on-demand logistics solutions, APIs, and software integrations provide shippers with the ability to seamlessly plan, budget, tender, and track their freight, no matter their procurement needs.
The Series A funding comes on the heels of several months of significant momentum for Uber Freight. Alongside signing new API integration partnerships with some of the largest cloud TMS providers, including SAP, Blue Yonder, BluJay, MercuryGate, and Oracle, Uber Freight also expanded its enterprise software offering with the launch of Uber Freight Enterprise and Uber Freight Link, both of which put Uber’s technical power directly into the hands of large shippers and provide a central point of control for logistics operations.
Carriers in the Uber Freight network were able to utilize new load bundling technology to reduce deadhead by as much as 23% as well as take advantage of dedicated lanes, a feature that lets carriers lock in regular loads across 1,000-plus lanes and plan their operations up to 3 months in advance, giving them more flexibility and time to focus on running their business.