Emerge, the leading platform for freight procurement has been named a finalist in the Fast Company magazine's World-Changing Ideas Award. A panel of eminent Fast Company editors and reporters selected the Scottsdale, Arizona-based company Emerge from 2,997 applicants from many industries across the globe.
"We are pleased to be a finalist in this prestigious list," said Andrew Leto, Founder, and CEO. "Our focus is on developing data-enabled solutions that allow customers to make more informed procurement decisions, resulting in greater efficiency throughout the RFP process. We continue to enhance our industry-leading freight procurement platform and plan to announce an innovative Benchmarking tool later this summer."
Emerge provides real-time data to shippers and carriers, empowering them to make decisions that impact their performance and the environment. Using the Emerge Dynamic RFP, shippers can choose carriers whose profiles best fit specific lanes. During the process, carriers also have visibility, allowing them to bid on lanes that they can serve efficiently within their operations network. These data-driven decisions and collaboration reduce empty miles and eliminate wasted, unpaid hours for truck drivers.
Fast Company's Summer 2022 issue will showcase some of the world's most inventive entrepreneurs and companies tackling global challenges. The issues highlight, among others, probiotics for coral reefs, easy-to-assemble kit homes for refugees or disaster survivors, a 3D printed vaccine patch, an electric truck, and a system to heat homes from the waste heat of a name-brand factory, and prosecutor-initiated resentencing for overly long prison sentences.
"We are consistently inspired by the novelty and creativity that people are applying to solve some of our society's most pressing problems, from shelter to the climate crisis. Fast Company relishes its role in amplifying important, innovative work to address big challenges," says David Lidsky, interim editor-in-chief of Fast Company. "Our journalists have identified some of the most ingenious initiatives to launch since the start of 2021, which we hope will both have a meaningful impact and lead others to join in being part of the solution."
World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company's major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand its reach to inspire more people to start working on solving the problems that affect us all.
Transforming the $800 billion freight industry, Emerge empowers meaningful logistics relationships through its award-winning Freight Procurement Platform. The Emerge platform helps streamline the disjointed and cloudy procurement landscape, bringing shippers and carriers together in one space to create and build mutually beneficial relationships.
With freight procurement and optimization becoming a common boardroom conversation, companies are increasingly looking for creative ways to find new efficiency in their supply chain. The premier choice for carriers and shippers within the procurement ecosystem, the Emerge platform inherently creates a powerful "network effect" — opening new opportunities for all participants as the network grows and becomes more robust. With every carrier and shipper added, the Emerge marketplace becomes even more powerful — creating better, stronger opportunities and win-win scenarios for all.
Built for freight professionals, Emerge is the only platform designed and led by freight experts with decades of direct, hands-on procurement experience. The Emerge executive team and board members include some of transportation's most prominent names, having previous experience leading companies like UPS Freight, GlobalTranz, Coyote Logistics, J.B. Hunt, and FreightWaves. This expertise allows Emerge to offer solutions that enhance contract and spot procurement, enabling shippers and carriers to make more empowered, strategic decisions.
Founded by industry veteran Andrew Leto, Emerge has seen tremendous success since opening its doors in 2017. In addition to securing over $150 million in investor funding, the Emerge platform has enabled shippers to procure over $6 billion in freight by leveraging the Dynamic RFP and Spot platform. In September of 2021, Emerge announced its latest Series B funding round of $130 million, led by investment partners 9Yards Capital, Tiger Global Management, and The Spruce House Partnership, with additional participation from existing backers New Road Capital Partners and Greycroft.
"This funding will allow us to scale our business efficiently — from creating new opportunities for our current employees to filling needs from the outside where necessary," Jack Holmes, Emerge Executive Chairman and former President & CEO of UPS Freight, said. "We have been fortunate to have great partners. Financial partners, shipper partners, and carrier partners. Andrew [Leto's] vision has continued to evolve, and we're confident that our platform will be regarded by our partners as the most influential in transportation."
