20. Flock Freight

Founder: Oren Zaslansky (CEO)
Launched: 2015
Headquarters: Encinitas, California
Funding: $399 million
Valuation: $1 billion
Key technologies: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, machine learning
Industry: Logistics
Previous appearances on Disruptor 50 List: 2 (No. 14 in 2022)

Transportation is a leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions. An ongoing trucker shortage has an already constrained supply chain running at far less than maximum efficiency. These are the big issues that keep Flock Freight running.

Focused on making the freight industry more efficient and sustainable, Flock Freight takes a tech-first approach, using cloud computing and machine learning, to analyze the flow of shipments and reduce empty space in trucks.  

"About half of all the trucks you see on the highway are only half-full," Oren Zaslansky, founder and CEO of Flock Freight, told CNBC last May. Not only are these half-full shipments expensive, but they're heavily adding to the industry's carbon footprint. In a recent survey of 200 transportation and logistics professionals, Flock Freight found that only 55% of shippers filled their trucks to capacity in 2022.

Flock Freight is also notable for being the freight industry's first certified B Corporation, which its founder told CNBC was no easy task — it was at first rejected for certification based on the fact that it operates in the carbon-intensive freight space. But its technology to manage shared truckloads and cut carbon emissions by as much as 40% eventually led to approval.

The company helps connects carriers and shippers, in particular in what's known as the less-than-truckload (LTL) market where shippers do not require a full trailer for their loads. By using cloud computing insights to combine multiple shipments moving along the same route into one truckload — think carpooling — Flock Freight can cut emissions. But even with more efficient shipments, Flock Freight can't make shipping carbon-neutral without also offering to buy and sell carbon offsets on behalf of clients.

The company's focus on climate-friendly freight has gotten through to people in high places. The World Economic Forum invited the company to join its Global Innovators Community and advise on projects. But even as the pandemic-driven supply chain issues and trucker shortage shined a light on startups in the logistics space, Flock Freight, similar to other 2023 CNBC Disruptors Flexport and Convoy, is facing the need to run leaner. It too went through a series of recent layoffs, though Zaslansky recently told industry publisher FreightWaves in response to reports of the job cuts, "Flock is in the best financial health we've ever been in after seeing record highs in margin and acquisition in Q1."