SmartHop Continues Expansion with Two Key Hires

Dispatch and back-office support platform for trucking companies adds industry veterans JP Restrepo as GM and Jeff Ogren as head of marketing

MIAMI–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SmartHop, an innovative technology company built by experienced trucking professionals that’s solving the industry’s most perplexing problems, announced two new key hires: Juan Pablo (JP) Restrepo, general manager and Jeff Ogren, head of marketing. The announcement comes as the company continues its expansion following a $4M seed round led by Equal Ventures in July.

Founded by truckers for truckers, SmartHop’s mission is as simple as its solutions. Its first product provides carriers with smarter load recommendations and guaranteed above-market rates. SmartHop has grown rapidly since its debut in February to meet rising demands driven by spot market expansion. Its AI-powered technology displaces the tedious logistics of trucking so owner-operators can compete with leading carriers without the complexity of enterprise systems.

“More than 90% of trucking companies are small businesses that are frustrated with many of the industry’s legacy processes — they crave a simplified tech to support their ability to do what they do best, haul freight across the country,” said Guillermo Garcia, founder and CEO of SmartHop. “Jeff and JP are joining SmartHop at an exciting time as we aim to unravel a massive and complex industry to deliver elegant options for today’s generation of truckers.”

Jeff joins SmartHop with ten years of experience in the logistics and tech space, leading marketing and business development efforts in the transportation and logistics industries. He recently worked with Uber Freight, where he led critical strategic projects and served on the founding team as Head of Business Development and Marketing. Prior to Uber, Ogren was an early team member and head of marketing for Trucker Path, America’s largest and most used trip planning and load management platform for the trucking industry.

Inspired by SmartHop’s mission to level the playing field for independent owner-operators and small carriers, JP Restrepo brings to the company nearly two decades of operating experience at large companies and smaller startups. Before joining SmartHop, JP led the expansion of the Indian startup OYO Rooms in Florida. He also led the UberEats team in the Southeast region in the US, where his team achieved consistent growth rates, profitability, and category leadership.

SmartHop expects to announce additional products to further help independent drivers and small companies compete against the major carriers through the end of the year.

About SmartHop

In 2019, North American truckers moved nearly 12 billion tons of freight. In short, truckers move the world. SmartHop is here to move with them as their trusted copilot. SmartHop uses artificial intelligence to deliver smart load recommendations, full-service back-office support, performance tracking and digital bookings at guaranteed above-market rates for small trucking companies. SmartHop lets truckers focus on the road. We handle everything else. SmartHop is led by Equal Ventures, a seed stage venture fund based in New York. Additional investors in the round include Greycroft and Las Olas VC. Among SmartHop’s investors are Alex Yeager, director at Redwood Logistics, Andrew Leto, founder of GlobalTranz and Emerge TMS, and Jett McCandles, founder of logistics company Project44. For more information, visit: www.smarthop.co

Contacts

Media:
Stephanie Chan

Senior Account Manager

smarthop@shiftcomm.com