Trucker Tools Acquired by ASG
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Trucker Tools has been acquired by the software-focused investment portfolio company ASG, the companies announced June 22.
ASG, which is backed by private equity firm Alpine Investors, specializes in buying and building software-as-a-service companies. Trucker Tools offers a digital freight management platform to the transportation industry.
ASG’s experience in helping companies grow was part of the appeal for the deal, said Trucker Tools CEO Prasad Gollapalli.
“When we look at partners, one thing that we look for is their expertise in scaling up fast,” Gollapalli told Transport Topics. “It’s not just for transportation, but outside too. Their impact, expertise and the techniques that they built over years that we could borrow — what we should be doing.”
Gollapalli
Gollapalli added the goal is to scale up the Trucker Tools platform through technology investments and possibly future acquisitions. ASG, he noted, has a proven track record of helping SaaS providers grow and build out reliable, resilient software solutions. ASG has made 35 acquisitions to date.
Gollapalli believes the companies’ combined resources will benefit employees, suppliers and partners while growing the community of users. Trucker Tools already has a user base that includes nearly 300 third-party logistics providers and broker-customers, 1.4 million truckers and 170,000 small-fleet operators.
Gollapalli founded Trucker Tools in 2013 with a smartphone-based shipment visibility service. Since then the company has debuted services such as capacity management, predictive freight matching, automated booking, real-time GPS-based visibility and digital workflow services. Trucker Tools is headquartered in Reston, Va.
ASG operations executive Jesse Buckingham, who is joining Trucker Tools as chief revenue officer, said the investment is aimed at helping Trucker Tools gain resources and expertise necessary to meet its full potential.
“It’s primarily around being able to invest more heavily in growing the product, building an even more awesome platform for brokers and carriers, and providing expertise on how to help Trucker Tools realize its ambition of helping brokers through their digital transmissions,” Buckingham said.
More broadly, Buckingham noted that ASG is excited about the transportation sector, which it sees as fragmented and with many manual processes that are ripe for innovation. He said Trucker Tools stood out as it is navigating the sector’s digital transformation process while maintaining a strong relationship with brokers and carriers.
“ASG looks to partner with businesses for the long term,” Buckingham said. “When you find a really awesome team with a great product, with a great brand and a big market, that’s the foundation of a really long and enduring partnership.”
Buckingham added, “Trucker Tools’ success stems in large part from the relationship that they built with drivers, carriers and brokers. There are a lot of players that are trying to disrupt transportation. But I think the thing that is special about Trucker Tools is that belief that digital transformation comes from working with the industry and not against it. The trust and deep relationships they’ve earned from operating from this belief really sets them apart.”
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