Next Trucking lets trucking companies and individual owner-operators post their availability to haul goods for shippers, who can use online tools to manage their shipments.

Next Trucking Inc. is out to be the next big thing in over-the-road shipping—and with a drive to put truckers at the center of the action in its online shipping marketplace.

We need to overhaul the way the industry works and empower the truckers.
Lidia Yan, CEO
Next Trucking Inc.

Lidia Yan, co-founder and CEO, says the firm developed its web portal to put truckers more in control of their businesses. “We need to overhaul the way the industry works and empower the truckers,” she says. “We couldn’t watch this happen from the side of the road, so Next Trucking developed the first online marketplace that mitigates the negative by building a strong, transparent community.” Yan, a former executive of web-only electronics merchant Newegg Inc.—which operates the B2B site NeweggBusiness as well as the retail site Newegg.com—co-founded Next Trucking in 2015 with Elton Chung, who is also the founder and president of logistics services firm iDC Logistics International.

NeweggBusiness is No. 107 in the 2018 B2B E-Commerce 300.

Lidia Yan, CEO, Next Trucking

Next Trucking says it aims to stand out in the shipping market by operating as a “trucker-centric” portal aimed at helping the owner-operators and small and mid-size fleets. “Truckers dictate what they want and post their availability on the marketplace before connecting with shippers, as opposed to shippers providing load information to brokers who call several truckers to find the cheapest option,” it says.

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The company’s business model and prospects have won over investors who have provided $27.3 million since its launch in late 2015, according to Crunchbase. That includes $21 million in a Series B round Next Trucking announced on Tuesday.

The Series B funding is from Sequoia Capital. Earlier investors have included China Equity, Shea Ventures, Zuma Ventures and Mucker Capital.

Next Trucking lists on its website such clients as shippers Pioneer Electronics Inc., Hisense USA, Jinko Solar and Jakks Pacific Inc., and trucking organizations Five Stars Truck Rental, A Gonzalez Secure Trucking Inc. and V&E Trucking. It also provides trucking for steamship lines including Mitsui OSK Lines.

Jeffrey Mo, director of supply chain management at Pioneer Electronics, says in a testimonial on NextTrucking.com that the online shipping services firm “has the capacity, service level and industry knowledge we are looking for in a shipping partner.”

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Next Trucking says more than 10,000 carriers and hundreds of shippers are using its platform. It says its goal is to help alleviate a shortage of some 50,000 truckers that, according to a report published by the American Truckers Associations, is projected to more than triple by 2026 to more than 174,000. “There is a myriad of reasons truckers have turned sour on their vocation, including low pay, an uncertain financial future, forced dispatching and unsatisfactory lifestyle,” Next Trucking says.

Yan says the funding will go toward hiring more personnel experienced in shipping and technology development. “Our growing team is set on building the best marketplace platform to mitigate the reasons behind truckers walking away from their rigs and younger people not entering the field,” the firm says.

Next Trucking charges shippers a commission for connecting them with a carrier; it charges no fees to truckers. It notes that trucking carriers all have a minimum of $100,000 in cargo insurance.

It says it usually releases payments to a trucker’s account within 15 business days after a job is finished. It also offers a quick-pay option, which releases payments within 72 hours after job completion, minus a 3% processing fee.

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The firm requires truckers to have either Apple or Android mobile phones or tablets to be able to view and accept shipping loads. And because it deals in full truckloads, it requires truckers to operate “48-foot or 53-foot tractor trailers, reefer trailers or flatbed” trucks.  “We will consider other truck types in the near future,” it says.

Among its other online features: Shippers can view on online maps the current location, direction of travel and estimated arrival times of each shipment; truckers can use their mobile apps to view and accept delivery jobs, upload invoices to shippers, and chat or text message with dispatchers and other drivers.

Omar Hamoui, a partner at Sequoia who is joining Next Trucking’s board, says the trucking services firm has “tripled revenue year over year” with “a marketplace powered by sophisticated technology that resolves many of the critical imbalances that exist between the shipper’s needs and driver’s availability.”

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