Another advantage of these new services may be greater responsiveness. The brokerage process, at least as it operates now, adds some overhead to the cycle, and it may take several hours from when a shipment is given to a broker to when the shipper is provided with a carrier match.

With these new services, that match will often take place in just minutes.

In general, shippers post a shipment on the web sites of one of these companies. Shippers then receive an instant price based on proprietary formulas based on distance, weight, etc. Carriers participating in the program see and respond to the opportunity, and once a trucker is engaged the applications track the shipment in real time using mobile technology.

Convoy and Others Hope to Upend Traditional Brokerage Model

Thus, these applications do not really seem to be upending the brokerage model as much improve it, with lower fees and perhaps more rapid process models.

Still Lots of Barriers

While the hot money is flowing in, there are a number of barriers to the concept. The most important will be concerns relative to quality of service. Most shippers, at least the larger ones, rely on networks of "core carriers" that move the vast majority of their freight, turning to spot markets only when their usual carriers can't cover a load. Shippers also like drivers familiar to with physical and operating policies of consignee, rather than a different driver every time.

While carriers are vetted in some way by Convoy and the others, shippers may still be leery, without a broker acting as a more focused vetting mechanism, while how the new age services will handle complexities like the CSA driver and carrier safety ratings is another question.

That means to real addressable market might be far, far short of the $700 billion that has investors in these startups drooling.

"There are a lot of moving pieces, and I don't see an app from a non-industry player - just given the complexities of the truckload market - really coming in and having a disruptive impact," Jack Atkins, a transportation analyst with investment bank Stephens, said to the Wall Street Journal.

Brokers of course are liekly to fight back with their own upgraded technology to better compete. And companies like Transplace have been electronically connecting shippers and carriers for many years, including support for "continuous moves" to reduce deadheading or secure better round trip rates.

But Convoy CEO Lewis remains highly bullish on his service.

"I've seen firsthand how much potential this has to improve people's lives and I think the day will come when shippers and truckers won't remember how they did things without Convoy," Lewis said last week.

He added that "the [brokerage] system is running on phone calls. That is a lot of complex information to transfer over the phone. The broker takes a healthy cut for offering that service, for finding the right truck, and managing things when they go wrong."

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