// startup autopsy

FRETBAY

A freight marketplace that couldn't haul its own weight

marketfitSlow Death

Years-long decline before final shutdown · Fatal mistake: FRETBAY attempted to digitize a trust-based, phone-driven freight market without sufficient capital to subsidize both sides of the marketplace.

Founded	2008
Closed	2014
Country	Unknown
Sector	Marketplace

50%

Key Events Timeline

2008-01-01

FOUNDING

FRETBAY founded as an online freight marketplace.

2013-06-01

FUNDING

Raised $554K in what would be its final funding round.

2013-12-01

PRODUCT LAUNCH

Platform struggled to attract sufficient carrier density despite product improvements.

2014-06-01

SHUTDOWN

FRETBAY ceased operations, unable to achieve marketplace liquidity with limited capital.

Full Analysis

Analyst plan

Documented cause

FRETBAY was a freight and logistics marketplace that failed to achieve critical mass on both the supply and demand sides of its platform. The startup raised only $554,000 in total funding, which proved insuffic...

ient to execute its business model in the highly fragmented and relationship-driven trucking market. With limited capital, FRETBAY was unable to subsidize early transactions—a critical mechanism neede

Verified lesson

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€2.5M

Peak valuation

HypeCycle · MoatType · ResearchTags

FRETBAY raised €0.554105M before fretbay attempted to digitize a trust-based, phone-driven freight market without sufficient capital to subsidize both sides of the marketplace. ended it. See the documented cause, verified lesson and all failure signals.

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