Trucker Path is a mobile app that helps truckers find truck stops, parking spots, rest areas, scales, DOT weigh stations, truck washes and more. At first, this may sound pretty banal, but the company has bigger plans that go far beyond these kinds of map-centric tools. To do so (and to enter the growing Chinese market) Trucker Path has raised $1.5 million from Chinese holding company and social network Renren.
Trucking is a gigantic industry, and while there have long been plenty of trucking-centric apps on the market, Trucker Path has clearly caught on with drivers. The service now has 100,000 registered users and is seeing 20 percent month-over-month growth according to the company’s own data.
Going forward, Trucker Path hopes to leverage this user base to launch a platform that connects commercial truckers with shippers. The company is currently testing this service in the form of an invite-only beta, but going forward, this is clearly Trucker Path’s best option for monetizing. As the company recently noted on its blog, it is also looking to acquire a small to mid-size freight brokerage company to help power this part of its business.
“The American trucking industry definitely needs changes,” said CEO Ivan Tsybaev in a canned statement today. “Our mission is to solve not only economic, but also social problems in the industry – truckers deserve to earn more, America needs to make trucking more appealing for the younger generation.”