How Oway is Fixing the $900B Freight Industry

The freight industry’s inefficiency problem is staggering – 45% of truck capacity sits empty while businesses all the way up to enterprise overpay for non full-truckload shipping. Oway is addressing this market failure with a straightforward solution: matching freight shipments with partially-empty trucks already heading to their destination.

The numbers make the case. Oway’s platform enables overnight shipping of up to 10 pallets across the country. Their machine learning system automates matching and route optimization, reducing order placement to a 30-second process. For truckers, this translates to up to an 30% additional in annual revenue from otherwise wasted capacity.

Since their 2023 launch, Oway has methodically expanded across six western states while maintaining 99.9% delivery satisfaction. The platform’s rapid adoption demonstrates the acute need for this solution in the market. Small businesses get faster, cheaper shipping. Truckers maximize their revenue. Empty trucks are eliminated.

The $900 billion US trucking market remains highly fragmented, with 90% being small and midsize carriers. This creates an ideal environment for Oway’s platform to become essential infrastructure. Their technology streamlines logistics while generating clear ROI for all participants.

As early investors in Convoy through our previous fund, we witnessed firsthand both the enormous potential and challenges of modernizing freight brokerage. While Convoy made significant strides in automating load matching and reducing empty miles, Oway’s approach is fundamentally different. Instead of building a full-service brokerage, Oway focuses exclusively on utilizing existing truck capacity through a pure marketplace model. Their technology identifies and matches only already-scheduled routes with small business shipments, creating a more capital-efficient business with stronger unit economics. This focused strategy allows them to solve the matching problem without taking on the operational complexity and capital requirements that ultimately challenged Convoy. We’re particularly excited about how Oway’s model naturally aligns incentives between truckers and shippers while maintaining healthy margins for sustainable growth.

Ritual Capital’s investment thesis is straightforward: Oway combines proven unit economics, strong network effects, and a massive addressable market. The founding team has demonstrated both technical capability and operational discipline in their execution.

The freight industry is overdue for transformation. Oway is building the technology to enable it, benefiting businesses, truckers, and the environment in the process. The opportunity and execution make this a compelling investment for Ritual Capital.