Convoy Valued at $1B+, Sweetgreen Launches 'Outpost' Delivery to Offices, HBR Studies Splash

After only three years in operation, Convoy has raised $185 Million in Series C financing round led by CapitalG, the investment arm of Google parent Alphabet Inc. T. Rowe Price came in as a new investor, joining Red Sea Ventures and other existing backers including YCombinator, Greylock and individuals Bill Gates, Marc Benioff, Henry Kravis, Barry Diller, and Jeff Bezos.

Trucking is an $800 billion industry— one that relies on a lot of old technology. Convoy makes software that matches shippers to truckers, similar to how Uber and Lyft connect riders to available drivers. It's technology helps shippers get better pricing and track deliveries, and lets small trucking companies plan jobs better. Truckers also make more money when the system gives them a load to haul on return journeys, rather than driving back empty. 

 Convoy has already landed over 500 customers looking to improve efficiency in the freight brokerage process including consumer giants Unilever and Anheuser-Busch InBev. The company operates in all 50 U.S. states and plans to use the funding to build volume in newer regions like the Southeast. Convoy will also invest to improve algorithms that help decide how much to charge shippers and how much to pay drivers, as well as software it’s offering to drivers and trucking companies to make their processes easier and more paperless.

Read more at Bloomberg

"Fast casual salad concept sweetgreen may have solved a big pain point for time-crunched corporate employees who are looking to eat better. The company has rolled out a pilot program, called Outpost, that delivers customized orders to kiosks located in corporate headquarters such as Live Nation, Nike LA and United Talent Agency. There is no delivery fee for the service.

Sweetgreen currently has 15 Outposts in place and is aiming to get to 100 by the end of the year. Co-CEO Jonathan Neman believes the company could have more than 2,000 in place by the end of next year: “What’s exciting about Outpost is it allows us to serve customers at scale with no fee and without having to build new locations.” 

Read more at Forbes

The Harvard Business Review study explains how new technology shows companies exactly how their events are translating into real revenue and profit growth—all while making event management easier and delivering a better customer experience.​

"In a post-digital world, building business relationships online is simply not enough. Digital ads have become white noise, online marketing channels are increasingly seeing diminished returns, and audiences are getting harder and harder to reach and engage with. More than ever before, it’s crucial for businesses to go beyond the digital space to build meaningful relationships,"  says Ben Hindman, SplashThat CEO.

Read the Full Report

The National Legal Research Group conducted a study “The Real Impact of Using Artificial Intelligence in Legal Research” comparing Casetext’s CARA AI against LexisNexis, the established legal search platform, to determine which system provides users with the fastest and best results.

The result? Casetext emerged victorious with the NLRG finding that attorneys complete their research 24.5% faster using Casetext CARA AI and requiring on average 4.4 times fewer searches. The study figured that this would result in time savings of between 132 to 210 less hours spent a year (based on American Bar Association figures) by attorneys.

According to the report, CARA wasn’t just faster. Attorneys who participated in the study rated CARA’s results 20.8% more relevant than those they found through LexisNexis.

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