SmartHop recently announced two new hires: Juan Pablo (JP) Restrepo, general manager, and Jeff Ogren, head of marketing. The announcement comes as the company continues its expansion following a $4 million seed round led by Equal Ventures back in July.
The company's first product provides carriers with smarter load recommendations and 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 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. "Ogren and Restrepo 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.”
Ogren joins SmartHop with 10 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 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, a 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, Restrepo brings nearly two decades of operating experience at large companies and smaller startups to the company. Before joining SmartHop, Restrepo led the expansion of the Indian startup OYO Rooms in Florida. He also led the UberEats team in the Southeast region in the U.S.
