C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc., which sells freight transportation and logistical services, has signed an agreement to buy Freightquote.com, an “online U.S. freight shipping provider” where businesses can comparison shop among multiple carriers for shipping rates.

C.H. Robinson, founded in 1905, says it will pay $365 million in cash for Freighquote.com, which launched in 1998. C.H. Robinson expects to close the deal in the first quarter of 2015.

The privately held Freightquote, based in Kansas City, MO, serves some 80,000 customers and will earn $623 million in gross revenue and $124 million in net revenue this year, C.H. Robinson says. Freightquote employs 100 workers. Freightquote executive chairman Tim Barton will serve as a Freightquote consultant after the deal closes.

“Freightquote is a high-quality, innovative, growth company that brings a proven model serving smaller businesses,” says John Wiehoff, chairman and CEO of C.H. Robinson. “Its proprietary e-commerce technology allows shippers to easily access competitive rates and automated load acceptance and payment functionality. E-commerce is going to be a bigger part of future supply chain services and Freightquote brings us a leading solution in our industry.”

C.H. Robinson, based in based in Eden Prairie, MN, has some 46,000 customers and works with about 63,000 transportation providers worldwide.

The deal will give C.H. Robinson more access to small- and mid-sized shippers, says a research note from BB&T Capital Markets written by Thomas Albrecht, Aaron Reeves and Willard Milby IV. C.H. Robinson has “more of a Fortune 1000 focus,” the note states, while Freightquote’s customers are mainly “small businesses that use its e-commerce platform on a primarily transactional basis.”

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