There’s a lot of chatter happening around the future prospects of the trucking industry. I know, this doesn’t sound right, does it? Most people don’t attach buzz or intrigue with the concept of the trucking business. But this particular noise is definitely ‘buzz worthy.’ People are predicting that by 2024 trucking will be a $1 trillion dollar industry.

If that prognostication is correct then trucking isn’t the slow-moving industry I and others traditionally view it as. Even with this news, investors and startups are angling to disrupt the way this business generally operates. Let’s take a look at some recent news to get a feel for all that’s going on.

First, there was the company, KeepTruckin, which generated $149 million in a Series D last month. The money is intended to help companies better manage their fleets and drivers. This particular trucking unicorn is now valued at $1.4 billion. That’s not small change.

Innovation Happening Everywhere

The innovation isn’t limited to one end of the business either, it extends to drivers with cargo to retailers and end-user customers.

As far as the driving component of the trucking industry, today Kargo Myanmar raised a seed round of $800,000 from Cocoon Capital. This created a fund specifically for Southeast Asian startups in deep tech, fintech, and medtech.

Kargo Myanmar has billed itself as a marketplace for trucks. This company wants to connect drivers who aren’t getting much business with companies that need drivers. Moreover the company wants to give farmers in rural Myanmar access to logistics services directly.

From the customer angle in all of this comes Berlin and Hamburg based start-up FreightHub which raised $30 million just last week. Their intent with the money is to make freight more digital.

So, with all this funding going on for companies in the industry, it’s clear that the seemingly outlandish profit predictions aren’t off-base.

What do you all think about the predictions for the trucking industry?