President and CEO Dale Prax founded Direct Expedite in October 2019 with three other partners. Prior to Direct Expedite, Prax had worked in the logistics industry for 30 years. With the onset of COVID, Prax harnessed his entrepreneurial spirit to make a difference in the freight expediting world through automation and technology.
In just a few years, and through HubtEk’s Co-Managed Talent partnership, Prax’s team had more than tripled in size. They now boast 26 employees, 12 of which were hired to automate their back office operations.
Let’s look at the problem Direct Expedite was facing as they grew and how Denim helped.
When we connected with Direct Expedite, Prax told our representative that he was already factoring and our representative said, “well, we’re different”. Prax had worked with large factoring companies in the past and found that they were unwilling to change as they had “always done it this way.” Prax was looking for a company that could tailor to his automation needs with evolving technology, rather than traditional payment and invoicing methods.
Direct Expedite continuously struggled with the 2.5 hours it took their accounting staff to complete an invoicing process and knew there had to be a more efficient way. It was a struggle to hire for these operations roles, as well. Prax found that employee retention was low as employees were not interested in spending hours on painstaking data entry.
Denim transformed the way Direct Expedite did its business. The company didn’t want to downsize by getting rid of its back-office support, but instead wanted to help these employees grow and gain valuable freight brokerage management skills. This freedom is exactly what Denim’s back-office automation allowed.
Employee retention increased and Direct Expedite hired 12 new employees since joining Denim's platform in 2021. “My daughter is the VP of Finance and an Denim fan like crazy,” Prax shares. She now has time to raise her children and grow at Direct Expedite because an invoicing process that typically took 2.5 hours now only takes 12 minutes. Simplicity in automation replaced the endless phone calls, emails, and data entry. As for their relationships with carriers, Direct Expedite had become known as “the guys who pay their carriers within 48 hours of delivery”.
When talking about his experience with Denim, Prax adds: “they don’t pay me a penny, but it’s like going to a movie or a restaurant, I’m going to tell you about the good things.”
%20(2).png){kind=spacer}
Toby Guidry founded freight brokerage Cajun Logistics LLC in 2020 so he could offer carriers an easier and more profitable experience. Toby worked in supply logistics in the Marine Corps for nearly a decade before joining a freight forwarder, and later also worked at a carrier. These experiences inspired him to do things differently in his own business.
For example, while many freight brokers have a 15% to 20% margin, Cajun Logistics operates with a 10% margin. Toby isn’t shy about letting carriers know that, either. “You just have to be straight up and honest with them. It helps build that trust,” he says.
Maintaining cash flow was important to his young business, but Toby soon saw that it was difficult to do without help. Shippers typically take 30 to 60 days to pay brokers like Cajun Logistics, but carriers expect to be paid far sooner. What’s more, as a one-person operation while growing, Toby didn’t have a lot of time for administrative tasks, either.
He knew he needed to work with a factoring company, but soon hit walls. “I tried connecting with a couple, but they either wouldn’t work with me or didn’t respond,” he says.
But, when he refined his generic “freight brokerage factoring companies” Google search to include “that work with new brokers,” Denim was at the top of the search results.
As a new-broker-friendly provider, Denim responded to Toby’s inquiry quickly. That impressed the freight broker, but so did Denim’s technology. Not only does it help Cajun Logistics get paid quicker and with less effort, it lets Toby treat his carriers well by paying them sooner, too.
He can offer carriers a quick-pay option without charging a fee for it – something they appreciate. Toby uses that as a selling point, too. “Paying in just two to three days saves carriers money on the back end,” he says.
Denim’s system is an administrative time-saver, too. That has become even more important as Cajun Logistics grows. The firm is on track to broker nearly $1 million in sales in its second year. Toby focuses on shipping lumber and flatbed loads, but future plans include creating two divisions, one for flatbed and one for drive van.
The easy-to-use portal facilitates that growth – Toby can quickly set up carriers in the system or make changes. Customers can easily upload paperwork, too.
He especially appreciates how he’s immediately alerted to problems or discrepancies. “If I accidentally upload the wrong paperwork for an order, for example, I’m notified so I can fix it right away. It’s not being held up for a week or two like it was with other factoring companies I’ve encountered during my career,” he says.
With three decades of experience in the logistics industry, Toby knows a good thing when he sees it. Earlier in his career, the now-entrepreneur told us he literally spent months trying to get an invoice he needed. When email and telephone messages didn’t work, Toby got results only when he mailed a handwritten note. “It took three months to resolve one invoice that could have been handled with a single phone call. I don’t have problems like that with Denim,” he says.
This is just one reason he’s recommended Denim to carriers and other freight brokers. Denim has also helped Cajun Logistics maintain a perfect DTP rating on Ansonia, with a consistent 30-day payment schedule and a desirable low-risk rating. This is particularly important for a younger, growing freight broker that’s bringing on new shippers and carriers regularly.
Using the system to pay carriers quickly without a fee gives Toby that competitive advantage he leverages while building the business, too.
Then there’s Denim’s friendly, prompt customer service.
“I have yet to run across anyone at Denim that I didn’t enjoy working with,” he says.
%20(8).png){kind=spacer}
Faith Corps Logistics, based in Florida, was founded by Donta Allen. Allen took the time to sit down with Denim and discuss a little bit about his experience with our financial enablement platform, customer service team and the logistics industry as a whole.
As a new broker who had worked in HR his entire career, Allen learned about Denim from another broker who mentored him through the startup process. This broker said that Denim would give startup freight brokers the opportunity to get their feet under them. Allen was looking for a financial partner that could pay out his invoices and grant him the capital needed to pay his carriers as a new broker. That’s just what he found in Denim, but what was his main selling point?
While Allen agreed that cash flow was one of the main issues when starting out, he signed on with Denim because we offer Ascend TMS free for the first year. He was expecting to pay for his TMS, but this TMS integration allowed him to keep his overhead low and minimize costs.
The customer service team helped him get established and showed him how to operate everything within the platform, from the dashboard to entering customers and contractors. It was a really valuable experience for him because he’s “really a hands-on learner”.
Allen reaches out regularly to the customer service team and his account manager. He messages them three or four times a week so he can stay current with what’s going on with Denim. He also stays up to date on industry trends and new information in the freight broker industry via FreightWaves.
So far, Allen has had great success working with Denim. “Denim being there has helped me reach more customers and have the capital to actually payout. I offer no-fee QuickPay which allows me to gain more carriers that I may not necessarily have access to because I don’t have a credit rating yet," he explains.
Denim enables Allen to build a business for his three children to eventually run in the future and hopes they will enjoy the industry as much as he does. He left us with his favorite part of working in the industry. “The pace. I love fast-paced. I love being able to have that adrenaline rush talking to different customers, carriers, shippers”.
Want to learn more about how Denim can help you grow your freight brokerage? Request a demo today!
%20(6).png){kind=spacer}
Turvo, provider of the world’s leading collaboration application designed for the supply chain, today announces a strategic partnership with Denim, a trusted freight payments system processing over $1 million in daily payments.
Denim specializes in flexible factoring, payments automation and broker operations tools with proprietary technology, allowing freight brokers to take control of their business. Denim’s solution, now integrated with the Turvo’s modern TMS platform provides logistics service providers with the ability to process factored and non-factored payments seamlessly, within a single pane of glass, eliminating the conventional process of manually uploading documents or e-mailing invoices.
With more than 8,000 carriers, shippers and brokers within the Denim ecosystem, Turvo’s broker customers now have access to their vast supply chain network making the selection of jobs, carriers and customers for billing just a few clicks. Denim’s freight payment system is designed for established and enterprise brokers, making their offering a substantial benefit to Turvo customers who aim to increase operational efficiencies from streamlined financials and payments.
“SmartBrokers are the new class of freight brokers. They are eager to use data and eliminate manual data entry within their freight technology stack. Integrations are the key,” said Shawn Vo, CTO and Co-Founder of Denim. “We are thrilled to partner with Turvo to deliver a seamless integration between our platforms that cuts time spent on importing jobs by 50%. With this integration, freight brokers can spend more time on customer service and new business than duplicative back-office tasks.”
In the Denim Freight Broker Pulse Report, nearly half of all brokers feel their organization spends too much time on operations, and 78% feel if less time was spent on operations their business would be more successful. In the report, 54% of brokers who claimed to have great carrier relationships attributed the carrier experience to using factoring to finance freight receivables and payables.
“We’re excited to launch our partnership with Denim and provide our TMS customers with the ability to automate factoring and payment processes within the Turvo Collaboration Cloud platform, " said Scott Lang, Chairman and CEO, Turvo. “The partnership brings a best of breed payment platform into our extensive partner and integration ecosystem and gives our broker customers another layer of automation and excellence in their back-office operations. The biggest gain for our customers is the experiences they can pass onto their customers and carrier networks.”
Turvo and Denim share a customer-first approach with a focus on automating the order-to-cash shipment lifecycle through seamless integration and collaboration. The benefits of this partnership to freight brokers include:
● The elimination ofmanual data entry, associated errors, and increased efficiencies in the billingcycle.
● Flexible financingoptions that have been purpose built for freight payment processes.
● Exceptionalcustomer experiences for brokers, their shipper customers and their carrierswith automated payments and real-time collaboration.
● Direct access toDenim’s customer support team, an extension of the broker’s back-office finance team.
● Touchless configuration ensuring required documents are received on Turvo Shipments --the billing information, rate confirmations, and supporting documents are automatically transmitted to Denim via API -- eliminating the traditional need to email copies or manually upload documents into a portal.
Denim co-founder and CEO Bharath Krishnamoorthy wrote a great article for Supply & Demand Chain Executive about the importance of using technology to build trust with carriers. He shares that establishing trust is key to long-term success, especially in the economic market that freight brokers are operating in today.
In the article, B explains that the best ways for brokers to build trust with their carriers are by offering on-time payments and being transparent about additional terms and fees. Unfortunately, “bad players” in the broker game sometimes hide these fees in their contracts, which can sacrifice the relationships they are building with carriers.
We all need tasks done on time and reliably, whether you’re a shipper, a freight broker, or a carrier. Luckily, technology makes it easier to automate back-office operations and payments so freight brokers can pay faster and more efficiently.
In addition to providing tips on how to build trust with carriers, B also includes statistics to show how technology can help freight brokers build relationships based on trust.
Currently, the total US trucking industry is valued at $732.3 billion, and freight intermediaries share a significant piece with a $145 billion market size. Because the industry is growing so rapidly, freight brokers “must turn to technology to enable more strategic freight management.”
The freight brokerage industry has largely been left untouched by advances in technology and B and the team and Denim believe that brokers deserve more. Today, freight brokers can be tech-savvy and embrace digital transformation initiatives — like automation, AI, and personalization — to build trust among customers and partners alike.
These insights also align with what we discovered in our Freight Broker Pulse Report, including the fact that the majority of brokers still pay carriers and shippers with paper checks, even though 68% of brokers say that eliminating paper checks would improve their business operations.
B concludes the article by reemphasizing the fact that operating the right way (and the fastest way) will create more trust between freight brokers and their customers and technology is here to help along the way.
In the heart of Chattanooga, Tennessee, FreightWaves hosted the Future of Freight Festival (F3), bringing together freight and technology companies from across the country to talk innovation and supply chain. The three-day event featured interactive sponsor booths, rapid-fire demos, and thought-provoking speakers discussing key factors impacting freight markets and the latest trends pushing the industry forward.
Sessions ranged from autonomous trucks to venture capital commentary to reshoring. Here are the top trends that emerged from the over 30 sessions at FreightWaves Future of Freight Festival, F3.
It’s no surprise the current economic climate was a common thread through every session and conversation at the coffee table. With DAT Freight & Analytics showing a 43.8% year-over-year drop in spot loads in August, everyone is feeling the impacts of the market fluctuation.
When discussing the market’s impact on carriers specifically, Bill Drigert, co-founder and head of operations at Uber Freight, said, “it’s been an incredibly volatile market over the last two and a half years and very difficult for carriers to predict what’s going to happen in the next six months.”
Many speakers offered advice on how to navigate during a weakening economy such as watching operating costs, investing in creating efficient processes, and keeping your eyes on the long-term. CEO of FreightWaves Craig Fuller explained, “the markets will do what the markets will do. If people are invested in the long term, these are just waves that happen. If you’ve been in freight, these are just normal waves.”
A down economy is only part of the cyclical nature of the freight industry and it will bounce back again. And the advice is clear: be ready for when it does.
With the current economy top of mind, many experts at F3 emphasized the importance of innovation during a recession.
Mike Plasencia, co-founder and managing director of RyderVentures, championed this theme during his fireside chat with FreightWaves. “Innovation isn’t slowing down. The supply chain is tight, so we’ve never been more open to innovation than we are now,” said Plasencia. He went on to explain how visibility is one innovation that is now table stakes for every logistics company.
Innovation abound at F3 with the new technologies on display at every vendor’s booth. Autonomous trucking was on display with companies like Aeye showcasing its lidar and sensor-based systems that act as the eyes for driverless cars and trucks, recreating real-world obstacles and hazards in a virtual space. Other companies promoted new innovations in visibility like Skybitz, a trailer tracking solution with a smart sensor integration that monitors everything from doors to tire pressure.
Data is the biggest opportunity for strengthening the supply chain. Data lives throughout the supply chain and is being mined in different silos - cash flow, pricing, trailer tracking and more. There is not a lack of data, however the industry is missing aggregated data distilled into learnings to guide forecasting and decision making.
When discussing data’s impact on the supply chain, Ajay Agarwal, partner of Bain Capital Ventures, emphasized, “data exists everywhere that powers this supply chain on paper, in spreadsheets, etc. Pulling this data together can be really powerful and is going to bring immense value to space.”
One example is Leaf Logistics, who is harnessing data to make a transparent industry-wide network. Chuck Toye, the self proclaimed “product custodian” of Leaf Logistics, explained, “when we put shipper and carrier data together, we discover opportunities for cooperation and can create efficiencies across the supply chain.”
FreightWaves F3 made one thing clear: freight technology is on the rise. There are more tools now than ever to provide businesses with greater visibility over their assets and operations. The hesitancy to adopt technology is quickly being replaced by the need to drive change.
After winning “Best in Show” for our rapid-fire demo and debuting on the FreightTech25 list, Denim left Chattanooga feeling proud of what we’ve accomplished and excited for what’s to come.
Denim co-founder & CEO, Bharath Krishnamoorthy, had a chance to sit down with Chris Jolly on his podcast Coffee w/#TheFreightCoach to discuss the story of Denim and how we’re helping freight brokers grow faster by automating their back-office operations. Let’s dive into the interview!
B begins by talking about how he started his journey into the realm of transportation. Shawn Vo, co-founder & CTO, is B’s best friend since high school. Together, they wanted to build something big and meaningful.
A few years back, B was working as a corporate lawyer in NYC while Shawn lived in DC. They’d take buses back and forth to visit each other when they came to the realization that they wanted to create a valuable pricing and scheduling solution for the bus system. With that, BusBot was born, but it wasn’t scalable.
During that time, they met many founders and investors working in transportation and tech. They realized that freight transportation is a lot more interesting, very diverse in the problems you can solve, and there’s a lot of room for growth and value.
This new project was one that they’d feel good about working on for the next ten or so years and allowed them to address one of the industry’s most salient pain points: cash flow problems. There’s a massive market for freight brokers and they would have the opportunity to resolve the mismatched timing of payments. They’d be making an impact.
“Having the right partners is imperative”, says The Freight Coach. He goes on to ask B about what exactly Denim has to offer as a factoring company for freight brokers.
“For one,” says B, “Denim makes it easy for freight brokers to attract and retain carriers through QuickPay. Two, Denim automates critical financial operations, taking the work off freight broker’s plates and guaranteeing that it’s correct. Finally, Denim unlocks the power of data, integrates with brokers’ TMS systems, and shows you where you should be investing your time.” Denim’s goal is to empower clients with data so they can identify and focus on what brings them the most value.
B says that freight brokers should be spending time making sure they have great shippers and carriers working with them, they shouldn’t be wasting time on back-office operations that contribute to a significant loss as they are unable to spend that time on growing their business.
When working with Denim, the average client grows their business 2.3x in their first year, often more. This is attributed to the immense time savings Denim provides that is quintessential to the success of a freight brokerage.
So what’s next?
B plans to build out more automations in the coming months and provide further intelligent recommendations on data, making it easier for freight brokers to make smart decisions.
Listen to the full interview here and don’t forget to follow both Chris and Bharath on LinkedIn!
Cash flow problems are a perennial challenge in the trucking industry. The reasons are varied, but topping the list is that shippers often wait one to two months after a load has been delivered before issuing payment, wreaking havoc on carriers and intermediaries that can’t afford to wait. One answer to this issue is factoring.
A common tactic for carriers and brokers, factoring is now getting a next-generation makeover, with new entrants aiming to bring a more streamlined, tech-enabled approach to the business.
A case in point is Denim, a New York-headquartered platform that manages financing for freight brokers. Denim, which got off the ground last year, gives small and medium-size freight brokers a cash infusion by purchasing their accounts receivables. Riding a wave of digitization, it also provides back-office automation, assisting customers with invoicing, collections, and carrier payments.
In addition, the company offers a “quick pay” service that sends payment to the carrier at the same time that it advances funds to the broker.
Several factors distinguish Denim from competitors, said Bharath Krishnamoorthy, co-founder and CEO of Denim. The company focuses exclusively on freight brokers and doesn’t lock customers into long-term contracts or charge extra for quick pay.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the pandemic, Denim is averaging 40% month-over-month growth in 2020, and this week secured $27.7 million in debt and equity financing. Participating in the round was Anthemis, a global venture platform, and Techstars. Earlier this year, Denim raised a $1.4 million pre-seed round, led by Trucks Venture Capital.
Enabled by technology, Denim will make factoring available to all carriers via freight brokers, regardless of their size, Ruth Foxe Blader, partner at Anthemis, told FreightWaves in an email.
“Just like robo advisors have done for wealth management, Denim is democratizing invoice financing for all carriers by efficiently delivering valuable back-office technology and factoring for freight brokers,” Blader said.
Read the full article here.
We are so proud to announce that Denim was recognized as one of Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators 2022: 11 Small Company Standouts. According to Fast Company, we "foster exceptionally innovative environments" and though we may have less than 100 employees (for now!), our "potential for impact and growth is just the opposite."
Fast Company's recognition of innovative workplaces comes during an era of "distributed workforces" and The Great Resignation. The list highlights companies that energize their employees, reward creativity, and allow workers at any level to pitch new concepts. Every company recognized has a culture that offers "meaningful employee engagement and a chance to change the world."
One of the reasons why Fast Company highlighted us as a finalist is because of our unique engineering cycle. Our Chief Technology Officer and Head of Engineering have talked about it before, but every engineering cycle, our team has a "cool off" period where they can focus on their own personal development and growth. This flexibility encourages innovative thinking and allows our engineers to bring new ideas to the table.
In addition to that, we are also a remote-first company and always have been. With this structure, we are able to attract top talent from all over the country. This innovative structure has become more popular since COVID-19, but we have always been and will always be a remote company. We have also, over the past year, built the executive team we need to position ourselves for success in the coming years.
This recognition from Fast Company comes at the heels of some other huge accomplishments for Denim, including being honored as one of Built In's Best Place to Work. Our Head of Talent Acquisition, Alicia Kortmeyer, was also recognized as an Outstanding Woman in Tech in 2022.
To learn more about our innovative team and to see our current job openings, check out our Careers page.
