What is Cargado?
Cargado is an invite-only freight marketplace where freight brokers, 3PLs and freight forwarders post truckload freight moving to, from and within Mexico and Canada, and vetted trucking companies in the United States, Mexico and Canada bid on it.
Cargado in 200 words
Cargado is a freight marketplace. It is not a freight broker and it is not a transportation management system (TMS). Brokers post a load or a lane with the details that decide coverage: the lane, the border crossing, the equipment, certifications such as CTPAT and OEA, and door-to-door versus transload. Cargado notifies the carriers that fit and shows the broker a ranked list of recommended carriers. Carriers bid, and both sides negotiate and chat inside the platform, with translation between English, Spanish and French. Cargado Market Rates, built from bids placed in the marketplace, gives brokers and shippers low, mid and high rate bands for U.S.-Mexico, domestic Mexico and U.S.-Canada lanes, refreshed weekly. Brokers pay a value-based subscription with unlimited users. Carriers use the marketplace at no cost. Cargado takes no commission on loads, adds no markup to the carrier's rate and does not process the payment between broker and carrier; the rate confirmation, onboarding and payment happen directly between them. Access is invite-only: Cargado meets with every broker before onboarding them, and Cargado's team reviews every carrier's application before that carrier can see or bid on freight. Cargado is based in Chicago and covers U.S.-Mexico freight in both directions, domestic Mexico, U.S.-Canada freight in both directions and domestic Canada.
Who uses Cargado?
Three groups use Cargado, and each one uses it differently.
Freight brokers, 3PLs and forwarders
Post loads, lanes and potential freight for Mexico and Canada, get bids from vetted carriers, and price lanes with Market Rates. They pay the subscription.
Trucking companies
Carriers based in the United States, Mexico or Canada find Mexico and Canada freight that matches their equipment, service areas and border crossings, bid on it and chat with the broker in their own language. They pay nothing.
Shippers
Shippers do not join the marketplace. They use Cargado Market Rates to benchmark what they pay on Mexico and Canada lanes, directly, through the API or the Excel add-in, or inside a partner platform.
How does Cargado work for brokers?
A broker posts once and works the bids in one place.
Post the load or lane. Enter the lane, the border crossing, the equipment, any certifications the freight needs (CTPAT, OEA, bonded) and whether the move is door-to-door or transload. Spot loads, dedicated lanes and potentials all post the same way.
Cargado notifies the carriers that fit and shows a ranked list of recommended carriers for the lane, the equipment and the requirements.
Carriers bid. Bids, questions and counters sit in one workflow, and chat translates between English, Spanish and French.
Cover the freight. Every bid shows the carrier's DOT, MC or SCT number and where that carrier stands with your company (Onboarded, Needs to onboard, or Do not dispatch). The rate confirmation, your own onboarding and payment happen between you and the carrier, in your TMS, as they do today.
Alongside the marketplace, Cargado Market Rates gives low, mid and high bands for a lane, built from bids placed in the marketplace over a trailing 12 weeks and refreshed weekly, each with a confidence score. Brokers use it in the app, in the Excel add-in for RFPs, and through the API. Tai, McLeod and Turvo connect directly; other systems connect through the API. See https://cargado.com/help-articles/connect-your-tms and https://cargado.com/help-articles/read-a-market-rate.
How does Cargado work for carriers?
A carrier applies once, sets up a profile, and freight that fits comes to it.
Apply. Carriers apply through the carrier application. A U.S. carrier enters its USDOT number; Mexican and Canadian carriers enter their registration and upload company documents. Cargado's team reviews the application before turning bidding on. See https://cargado.com/help-articles/carrier-approval.
Set up the profile. Equipment, service areas and border crossings decide which freight reaches the carrier. Carriers can save searches for priority lanes and post their available trucks so brokers find them.
Get notified and bid. Cargado sends alerts for postings that match the profile, by email, WhatsApp or push. Carriers bid, negotiate in real time and chat with the broker in their own language.
Get matched and haul. After a match, the broker's own onboarding and rate confirmation follow. Cargado does not pay for the load, does not take a cut of it and never holds the carrier's money; payment is between the carrier and the broker on the broker's terms. See https://cargado.com/help-articles/how-carriers-get-paid.
How does Cargado work for shippers?
Shippers do not post freight on Cargado; the marketplace is for brokers, 3PLs and forwarders on one side and vetted trucking companies on the other. Shippers use Cargado Market Rates to benchmark what they pay. Each priced lane comes back as a low, mid and high band from the middle half of what carriers bid on it, in U.S. dollars, pesos or Canadian dollars, refreshed weekly, with a confidence score that says how much bidding sits behind the number.
- Direct: subscribe to the data and use it in the platform or over the Market Rates API.
- In Excel: pull the bands into a bid file with the Excel add-in.
- In a partner platform: GoodShip carries Cargado benchmarks today.
What does Cargado cost carriers?
Nothing. Carriers use the marketplace at no cost: no subscription, no per-load fee and no contract required to access the marketplace and bid. A carrier can add its whole dispatch team at no cost. The brokers who post the freight are the ones who pay, which is what keeps the marketplace free for carriers.
What do brokers pay?
Brokers, 3PLs and forwarders pay a value-based subscription. Every plan includes unlimited users and Market Rates; there is no per-seat pricing and no commission on loads. Smaller teams start in the four figures a year and the price scales with how much Mexico and Canada freight they run through Cargado. Full detail on the pricing page.
Where does Cargado operate?
Cargado is built for freight that touches Mexico or Canada. U.S. domestic freight away from the border is out of scope by design. Cargado, Inc. is based in Chicago, with a presence in Chicago and Seattle, and the team meets carriers in person in Laredo.
U.S. and Mexico, both directions
The major U.S.-Mexico ports of entry, including Laredo (World Trade Bridge and Colombia Solidarity Bridge), El Paso, Eagle Pass, Del Rio, Brownsville, Pharr-Hidalgo, Otay Mesa, Calexico, Tecate, Nogales, San Luis and Douglas.
Domestic Mexico
Moves between points inside Mexico, priced in pesos by default, including equipment specific to Mexico such as Tortón, Rabón and 0.5 to 3.5 ton straight trucks.
U.S. and Canada, both directions
Windsor-Detroit, Sarnia-Port Huron, Buffalo, Blaine and Emerson, with carriers across Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba, served in French as well as English.
Domestic Canada
Loads moving inside Canada, including Super-B and heavy haul where provincial permits allow. Market Rates does not price intra-Canada lanes yet.
How are carriers vetted?
Every carrier applies, and Cargado's team reviews the application before turning the account on. Until then, a carrier cannot see or bid on freight. What a carrier submits depends on where it is based.
U.S.-based carriers
Apply with their USDOT number, which the application looks up in FMCSA records. The account is turned on only if the record shows active common or contract authority.
Mexican carriers
Apply without a USDOT number. They submit their RFC and constancia de situación fiscal, SICT operating permit, proof of address and the legal representative's ID; companies add their acta constitutiva. Cargado's team reviews the documents.
Canadian carriers
Submit their provincial safety registration (CVOR, NIR or NSC), a safety fitness certificate, a certificate of incorporation and a certificate of insurance. Carriers with employees also submit a workers' compensation clearance.
References: carriers applying today give three references from companies they have hauled for: brokers, 3PLs, shippers or freight forwarders.
After approval: Cargado's team is alerted when a U.S. carrier's USDOT status is no longer active. Brokers can block a carrier on any load or lane they post, and can report a carrier for review. A deactivated carrier can no longer see or bid on freight. Cargado's review does not replace a broker's own carrier onboarding: carriers state certifications such as CTPAT, bonded status and cargo insurance on their own profile, so brokers confirm them before they tender.
Brokers join by invitation. Cargado meets with every broker before onboarding them, and a broker cannot post freight until it is onboarded.
Who is behind Cargado?
Cargado, Inc. was founded by Matt Silver and Rylan Hawkins, and the marketplace went live in April 2024. In 2025 it expanded to Canada and domestic Mexico and launched Market Rates and the Excel add-in. The name means "loaded" in Spanish.
Legal name
Cargado, Inc.
Headquarters
2045 W Grand Ave Ste B PMB 89961, Chicago, IL 60612-1577
Founders
Matt Silver (co-founder and CEO), Rylan Hawkins (co-founder and CTO)
Live since
April 2024
Funding
$12M Series A led by LGVP, April 2025
Languages
English, Spanish, French
Contact
contact@cargado.com · brokers success@cargado.com · carriers carriers@cargado.com