DAT’s Acquisition of Convoy Platform Signals a New Phase in Digital Freight Matching

By Maria Kalamatas | July 31, 2025

Chicago, July 31 — On a rainy morning in the Loop, DAT’s executive team gathered around a long oak table, reviewing the final paperwork. By mid‑afternoon, the deal was sealed: DAT had acquired Convoy’s digital freight platform, a move aimed at reshaping how shippers and carriers find each other across North America.

The platform, once a start‑up darling in Seattle, built its name by connecting independent truckers with shippers through an app that functioned like a real‑time marketplace. Now, with DAT behind it, the technology is expected to expand beyond spot trucking into intermodal and even maritime connections, giving freight brokers and logistics firms a single place to match loads across modes.

“This isn’t about scooping up a distressed asset,” said Renee Barton, DAT’s chief strategy officer, speaking shortly after the announcement. “It’s about taking a tool that truckers already trust and giving it more reach — rail, port drayage, ocean, everything.”

A market hungry for transparency

For years, shippers have complained about the lack of visibility and the time wasted on fragmented booking systems. Convoy’s interface, with its real‑time pricing and instant load matching, was seen as a breakthrough. But scaling the business proved difficult without a larger partner.

By integrating Convoy’s tech into its broader network, DAT plans to offer live load tracking, predictive pricing, and unified booking tools to brokers and carriers, while layering in analytics to forecast demand and capacity weeks ahead.

What it could mean for freight

Industry analysts say the acquisition could push competitors to accelerate their own digital projects. “This could become the first platform that truly unifies trucking, rail, and ocean freight,” said Daniel Graves, a transport consultant based in New York. “And if they succeed, brokers who stick to the old phone‑and‑spreadsheet model will be left behind.”

DAT expects the first integrated features to roll out by the end of 2025, starting with live rail and drayage booking, before adding ocean freight matching in 2026.

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