Last week, FTV Capital announced our strategic investment in Highway, the leading technology platform for Carrier Identity and compliance in freight. In just a few years, Highway has fundamentally changed the way freight brokers approach fraud protection – our investment will help the company build on its incredible growth and further extend into the logistics ecosystem through continued innovation and go-to-market expansion.
But what has led to Highway’s rapid ascension, and where is it headed with all this momentum?
A Crisis in Freight Fraud
For anyone involved in moving freight, one thing has become clear about fraud: it is not a fringe issue. It can take many shapes, ranging from motor carriers illegally double brokering loads to criminal theft rings stealing shipments and extorting payment. Enabled by digitalization and undetected by outdated tools, these bad actors are becoming more prevalent and sophisticated, costing the industry hundreds of millions in fraud-related losses annually. In 2024 alone, there were almost 4,000 reported incidents of cargo theft, representing a 27% increase year-over-year and an estimated $700+ million in losses. And that’s just one vector of fraud. [1]
Freight brokers – the intermediary responsible for coordinating secure freight movement between shippers and carriers – are caught squarely in the crosshairs. There are over 13,000 brokers that collectively manage about a third of U.S. truckload volume, representing a ~4x increase in market share over the last 20 years. As the complexity and fragmentation of the logistics industry continues to increase, the role of the broker becomes even more critical – and vulnerable to fraud. For decades, onboarding a carrier into a broker’s network was a routine exercise: validate insurance policies, verify a DOT number, make a phone call or two. Today, in a more digital freight ecosystem, that just doesn’t cut it as brokers frequently fall victim to document falsification and digital impersonation. Narrow vetting and onboarding tools lack the advanced detection and monitoring capabilities required to provide effective fraud prevention.
But the freight industry doesn’t need another point solution – it needs infrastructure that creates trust. That’s exactly what Highway has built.
Trust Begins with Identity
Jordan Graft, Founder and CEO of Highway, is no stranger to catalyzing paradigm shifts within logistics. Prior to starting Highway in 2022, Jordan was CEO of TriumphPay, where he effectively turned a reverse factoring operation into the first payments network in transportation, ultimately building the largest payer of freight invoices in the country. Drawing from his industry experience, Jordan knew that fraud couldn’t be solved with single-tenant workflow tools – it had to be addressed at the identity layer. Highway’s platform transforms carrier compliance into a real-time, data-driven process that starts with a simple question: “Who’s really hauling your freight?”
The result is an operating system for brokers to verify and monitor Carrier Identity, reducing fraud and increasing broker efficiency. By merging various data sources to build and maintain an identity graph for every carrier onboarded onto the platform, Highway has become a source of truth for over 1,000 brokers (including 70 of the top 100 in the U.S.).
This widespread adoption has fueled Highway’s ability to stay one step ahead – with large and growing datasets, patterns of fraudulent activity become more visible and easier to analyze, enabling Highway to proactively flag risk to its customers. For example, based on the details of a carrier’s fleet, Highway can estimate how many loads that carrier can pick up in a specific time frame – if a carrier is booked for far more freight than they can handle, Highway can spot a double brokering scheme in real time. Thanks to this level of technical expertise, Highway successfully blocked ~915,000 fraud attempts just last year.
But it doesn’t stop there. Highway can also analyze load-level compliance, determining whether a specific carrier can haul a specific shipment based on its equipment, truck and cargo insurance, or distance to the pick-up location. By bringing the concept of identity to the forefront of freight operations, Highway is helping its customers answer a new question: “Who is the right carrier to haul your freight?”
What’s Next?
Today, Highway is ushering in a new era of identity-first infrastructure with the official launch of its Trusted Freight Exchange (TFX) – the first secure digital freight exchange built exclusively for verified carriers and vetted brokers. Unlike traditional load boards, TFX is built on the pillars of verified identity, assured payment and a trusted double-sided network. By addressing the critical issue of fraud, TFX creates a foundation that brokers and carriers can trust to move freight with confidence.
In addition, through Highway’s partnership with Triumph, every transaction on TFX is backed by verified rate intelligence, broker credit assurance and secure financial settlement. As a result, while brokers gain access to identity-proofed carriers, carriers gain access to legitimate freight from trusted brokers and avoid non-payment. This creates a digital ecosystem that allows for faster, more efficient and frictionless commerce – as Jordan puts it, “this is freight the way it should be.”
While today’s launch of TFX is a monumental step forward in Highway’s journey to establish trust in trucking, it is also a natural continuation of the company’s commitment to transparency. Over the last few years, Highway has equipped its customers with the data and automation necessary to reach a new standard in fraud protection. The mission from here is to eliminate fear of fraud altogether.
The Road Ahead
Our investment represents an extension of FTV’s thematic approach to enterprise compliance software and our deep experience in sectors like transportation and logistics (via investments such as Fleet One – acquired by WEX in 2012 – and Lean Solutions Group). This continuity will allow us to turn decades of domain expertise into meaningful insights for growing companies like Highway. FTV is committed to offering Highway the best of 27 years of market experience, making strategic commercial introductions to executives in our Global Partner Network® and supporting the company’s growth with our in-house operations team, FTV Propel®.
I am honored to join Highway as a Board Observer for the next leg of its journey and partner with a management team that prides itself on its mission-driven approach and culture of innovation. Congratulations to Jordan Graft , Brittany Graft , Thomas Bumpass , Michael Caney , Brennan Bailey , Lawson Hopkins and the 100 individuals that make up the Highway family — FTV is thrilled to ride shotgun with you and is buckled up for the growth ahead.
