Congrats to SmartHop! $30m more to democratize the road for truckers

2 years ago when we led SmartHop’s seed round, we shared a vision with Guillermo to democratize the road for truckers. These truckers faced tough working conditions and low pay, but perhaps even more concerning was how the long-tail of drivers were exploited by the industry. This long-tail wasn’t some fringe case, it was the majority of the truck drivers in America (which is about 3.4m drivers in 2020).

Independent drivers and those working with small fleets often had lower paying loads, while the biggest carriers were able to cherry pick the best for themselves. These drivers also paid more for fuel, insurance, leases and working capital than larger players. Collectively, this made it incredibly difficult for the small to survive. 

Having already built a successful business in the trucking space, Guillermo (founder/CEO) didn’t want to just build the world’s best trucking carrier, he wanted to build something that could make EVERY driver the best trucking carrier. He wanted to make a solution not for thousands of drivers, but millions. 

Today, SmartHop is well on its way to that goal. In the last 2 years, they’ve launched an incredible software platform to automate the operations for drivers and bring them into the digital age. They’ve launched insurance, leasing and factoring partnerships that give drivers access to these services at prices they could never have before. Perhaps most impressively, they’ve established a load network that has visibility of more loads than anyone else in the industry, enabling independent drivers to make more on the road than they ever have before. The results have simply been astounding with SmartHop drivers making up to $370k - that’s right, truck drivers are making more than investment bankers on the SmartHop platform. We’ve done this while decreasing their cost centers, resulting in 68% improvement in take home pay for our drivers. For the first time ever, independent drivers are able to meet (and beat!) the performance of enterprise fleets. This has led to incredible growth on the platform not just with our drivers, but with our load partners as well, solidifying SmartHop as the industry’s platform for driver capacity. 

This latest round enables SmartHop to accelerate its industry adoption. We’re fortunate to welcome Sozo Ventures (which has incredible supply chain experience with industry leading companies like Project 44 and Flexport), as well as an array of industry leaders from the trucking industry including Jett McCandles, founder and CEO of project44; Robby Nathan, founder and CEO of LoadDelivered; Craig Fuller, founder and CEO of FreightWaves; Jason Duboe, Chief Growth Officer at project44 and the venture arm of Ryder (a trucking/transportation company with nearly $10b in revenue). SmartHop is for truckers, by truckers and the backing of these industry innovators serves as a testament to the company’s role in the future of trucking 

As we look toward the future, SmartHop has an open road ahead of them. The trucking industry is experiencing transformation at a rate we’ve never seen - the time is NOW for the long-tail to leap forward into the digital age. While still early in our life, SmartHop is already demonstrating technology advantages that are simply unprecedented, leveling the playing field like never before. With a market opportunity totaling tens of billions of margin potential and a mission to empower millions of workers, we’re excited to welcome the most ambitious talent in the world to help us achieve the next level of scale. If you are interested in empowering the next million drivers, please consider joining us!

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