YouCruit raises $11.5M USD to further fuel the growth of Lanefinder, it’s Vertical Labor Marketplace for the US Trucking Industry.
Lanefinder provides a job search and matching platform completely tailored to the wants and needs of truck drivers who have historically had to rely on word of mouth referrals and general job sites to find work.
New investors participating in this round are Coeli:s Investment Fund and several individuals with experience in building global marketplace business operations. They are joined by previous investors Viarp Invest, Primas Invest, Djakne Startup Studio and others.
With $800B USD in annual revenues, the US trucking industry is one of the largest industries in the world, and the backbone of the US economy. It is powered by 3.5 million Americans who work as professional truck drivers, making it the most common job in 29 states.
According to the American Trucking Association, the industry is short roughly 60.000 drivers today and needs to add an additional 900,000 drivers to the workforce just to keep up with demand over the next decade.
“Over 5,000 trucking companies have joined the platform since last year and we keep on growing with hundreds of companies creating accounts and posting new trucking jobs every month. To satisfy the hiring needs of the companies currently on the platform, we need to find over 220,000 drivers every year for them. That’s not a small number. The capital raised will be used to accelerate our Lanefinder brand awareness strategy, introducing drivers to the massive supply of jobs on the platform on a much larger scale, and to grow our team in Tulsa, OK.” Says Mats Holmback, Co-Founder and CEO.
Driver demand for finding jobs is at record levels with annual driver turnover sitting consistently above 90% over the past decade. The incredible job volatility in the industry can in large part be explained by online job matching inefficiencies, labor shortages and insurance policies making drivers eligible for more and more job opportunities as their experience naturally grows.
Reinventing truck driver job search.
General job search sites today make it nearly impossible for Truck Drivers to find the specific type of work they’re looking for and are qualified for. Instead they in large part have had to rely on old fashioned word of mouth referrals by talking to industry colleagues at truck stops or searching through general job sites to find work. That’s where Lanefinder comes in.
“With Lanefinder, a driver can find exactly what he or she is looking for in a matter of seconds instead of spending days plowing through job sites, taking 30-40 recruiter calls or chatting up other drivers at truck stops. We believe all skilled labor markets will expect and demand this type of job search efficiency in the future and Lanefinder is now leading the way in arguably the most important industry in the US.” Says Patrick Gilmore, Co-Founder and CTO.
A unique business model tailored to the trucking industry.
As opposed to the typical Pay Up Front advertising models job sites offer trucking companies today, Lanefinder does not charge anything for having their jobs searchable on the platform. Lanefinder instead offers a Pay Per Hire, performance based model for companies who need to recruit at greater speed.
“We don’t want to stand in the way of drivers finding their dream job just because a family operated smaller company couldn’t compete with the advertising budgets of larger companies like on general job boards. So if a driver is looking for a company operating regionally around Illinois, who wants to bring their dog in the truck, run specific types of freight with guaranteed weekends home, we’ll show the driver that job. Our clients’ jobs are always searchable but if they need an extra boost in hires we will ensure that their jobs get greater visibility and instead charge a success fee after the driver is hired -much like a professional recruiter would.” Says Mats Holmback
Much more than a highly specialized job site
Lanefinder’s longer term goal is to become every trucking company’s “one stop shop” connecting them to all things related to hiring drivers, such as insurance, payroll, staffing and more. “For instance, many companies don’t realize how their insurance policy may affect the size of the available driver pool from which they can recruit, how many drivers will pass on their job if it pays as 1099, or how many more drivers would be interested if their policy allowed for pets in the truck. By digging deeper into the challenges facing our clients we will be able to develop a deeper and much more meaningful relationship with our clients over time by solving the “entire need” they have”. Says Mats Holmback.
Mats Holmbäck
VD YouCruit AB
mats.holmback@youcruit.com
