# Guillermo Garcia

> Guillermo Garcia is the co-founder and CEO of SmartHop, a Miami-based platform that acts as an autonomous dispatcher and 'business-in-a-box' for small trucking companies and owner-operators. A Venezuelan industrial engineer who started out delivering pet food, he built a bootstrapped ~500-employee logistics company back home before political and economic instability pushed him to the U.S. After studying at Columbia and running an over-the-road fleet in Miami, he founded SmartHop in 2017-2018 to give independent truckers the software, load recommendations, and financial tools that big carriers take for granted. SmartHop has raised over $56M, including a $30M+ Series B in 2022.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at SmartHop
- **Organizations:** SmartHop
- **From:** Venezuela
- **Nationality:** Venezuelan
- **Education:** Industrial Engineering (logistics focus), Universidad Catolica Andres Bello (UCAB), Entrepreneurship program for Latin American entrepreneurs / executive program, Columbia University / Columbia Business School, Executive/advanced program, MIT, Advanced program, IESA
- **Known for:** Built a Venezuelan logistics company to nearly 500 employees, bootstrapped from a single Sprinter van, Co-founded SmartHop and scaled it into a leading freight-tech platform for small carriers, Raised over $56M in total funding from investors including Union Square Ventures, Greycroft, RyderVentures, Equal Ventures, Sozo Ventures and Las Olas VC

## Career timeline

- **2006** — Completes Industrial Engineering degree at UCAB in Venezuela
- **2006-2009** — Works in supply chain at Nestle for about three years
- **late 2000s** — Founds his own trucking company in Venezuela, starting with a single Sprinter van
- **2010s** — Grows the Venezuelan logistics company to nearly 500 employees, serving clients like PepsiCo, Nestle and Unilever - fully bootstrapped
- **2016-2017** — Relocates to the U.S. amid Venezuelan instability; studies at Columbia and launches a Miami LTL trucking operation
- **2017-2018** — Co-founds SmartHop with Joaquin Brillembourg and Miguel Sucre
- **2020** — SmartHop closes a $4.5M seed round
- **2021** — SmartHop raises Series A (led by Union Square Ventures)
- **2022** — SmartHop raises $30M+ Series B, total funding surpasses $46M

## Achievements

- Built a Venezuelan logistics company to nearly 500 employees, bootstrapped from a single Sprinter van
- Co-founded SmartHop and scaled it into a leading freight-tech platform for small carriers
- Raised over $56M in total funding from investors including Union Square Ventures, Greycroft, RyderVentures, Equal Ventures, Sozo Ventures and Las Olas VC
- Built a global remote company headquartered in Miami with teams in New York and Colombia
- Recognized industry speaker at FreightWaves and other logistics-tech events

## Latest updates

- **2022-01** — SmartHop announced a $30M+ Series B round to expand its carrier operating system
- **2024** — SmartHop continued operating and expanding product lines (including fuel and financial tools) amid a difficult freight market

## Links

- Website: https://smarthop.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guille-garcia/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/smarthop
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq990-lsZu0
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smarthopapp/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/guillermo-garcia
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-01