Ex-Convoy engineers started Manifold Freight to pool spot loads without taking load risk

Software that aggregates one-off 'spot freight' loads for medium-to-large trucking carriers, charging by fleet size.

That carriers will pay a software fee to find spot loads in one place, rather than lose up to 30% to load boards.

$500,000 from Y Combinator; raising a seed round

Andrew Huff and Oliver Jones were engineering leaders at Convoy, the digital trucking marketplace valued at nearly $4 billion before it collapsed in 2023 and sold assets to Flexport. Jones joined in 2017, becoming director of engineering last year; Huff joined in 2018 as an engineering manager.

They founded Manifold, part of Y Combinator's latest cohort, focusing on spot freight. Unlike Convoy, which took on the risk of each load, Manifold only lets carriers, brokers and shippers find each other for a fee and never takes responsibility for the load.

As of March 2024 Manifold had three employees, $500,000 from YC, and a stated plan to expand into tools for shippers and a full spot marketplace.

Public load boards take as much as 30% of the shipment price, according to Manifold, money that would otherwise go to carriers.

Convoy took on the risk of each load, a model Manifold deliberately avoids to keep its business a software fee.

The founders say their Convoy experience, working with industry leaders, is a competitive advantage over incumbents and newer startups.

Founders from a failed company often copy its customer problem but change its risk model: Manifold keeps Convoy's marketplace idea and drops the load liability.

As of 22 March 2024, Manifold was raising a seed round with three employees. Flexport had launched the 'Convoy Platform' for small carriers and owner-operators the month before. The cost and market claims are Manifold's own, and the article names no customers.