Ritchie Bros. announced it has acquired a controlling stake in VeriTread, a transportation technology and services company. This acquisition will accelerate Ritchie Bros.' marketplace strategy, which brings services, insights and transaction solutions together to improve the overall customer experience. VeriTread, founded in 2013, brings a legacy of experience in building heavy haul transportation platforms and solutions for industrial equipment, vehicles and other assets.

"VeriTread adds to our suite of services supporting the needs of equipment owners throughout the equipment lifecycle. At the same time, it also helps create a more efficient global marketplace by integrating transportation solutions directly into our new marketplace technology," said Ann Fandozzi, Ritchie Bros. CEO. "VeriTread, in combination with our satellite yards, will allow us to further scale and accelerate our hybrid marketplace model through increased capacity optimization and seamless customer experiences."

VeriTread is designed to be an efficient and reliable solution for open deck transport, connecting shippers and service providers with simple yet powerful technology. The company's products include a marketplace for listing and quoting shipments, an in-house brokerage to handle complex and urgent freight deliveries, detailed equipment specifications and proprietary freight estimator tools, and much more.

"VeriTread is thrilled to become a bigger part of the Ritchie Bros. marketplace, helping customers and the company transport equipment more efficiently," said Jeff Cox, founder, President & CEO of VeriTread. "Together we are focused on delivering an extraordinary customer experience, with trustworthy and reliable transportation for heavy equipment, vehicles, and other industrial assets. We are nimble, flexible, and can't wait to get started!"

Previously Ritchie Bros. owned 11 percent of VeriTread. With this acquisition, it has increased its stake to 75 percent.