More details are emerging about where Convoy’s assets may end up.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Flexport is in talks to buy the technology of Convoy, the Seattle-based trucking marketplace startup that abruptly shut down last week.
Flexport would hire a small team from Convoy but wouldn’t take on any assets or liabilities, the Journal reported.
We’ve reached out to Convoy and will update this story if we hear back.
Last week Convoy executives told employees in an internal video call that it was exploring strategic options after announcing that the company was shutting down, just 18 months after it raised $260 million and was valued at $3.8 billion.
Convoy CEO Dan Lewis said Wednesday that he was “heads down” working on a deal “that will include some of the Convoy team and our tech/services,” according to a post on LinkedIn.
Flexport is another logistics startup that raised huge amounts of venture capital but is now struggling amid a freight downturn. The company laid off 20% of its workforce earlier this month and went through a separate 20% layoff in January.
Founded in 2013 out of San Francisco, where it is based, Flexport offers services including ocean, air, truck and rail freight, drayage and cartage, warehousing, customs and compliance, financing and insurance, and more.
Flexport opened an engineering hub in Bellevue, Wash., in 2019, just after it raised $1 billion. Flexport has more than 350 employees in the Seattle area, according to LinkedIn.
Former longtime Amazon exec Dave Clark, who joined Flexport as CEO last year after a 23-year career with Amazon, departed in a surprise move last month.
Several other ex-Amazonians, including many based in the Seattle area, have also left the company in recent weeks.
Flexport founder Ryan Petersen, who is now CEO, wrote in a memo to employees this month that the cuts will help the company get back to profitability without raising prices or putting its balance sheet at risk.
Convoy told employees it spent the past four months trying to find a buyer but ultimately wasn’t able to ink a deal.
On Tuesday, Convoy submitted a WARN notification to Washington’s Employment Security Department (ESD), stating that 533 people were laid off due to a closure.
A former employee filed a class action lawsuit this week against Convoy, alleging that the company laid off staff without providing 60 days advance notice, in violation of the WARN Act.
