port-operations
(4)
PortPro
PortPro is a New Jersey-based software company that builds a drayage-specific operating platform - a transportation management system (TMS) purpose-built for the container trucking companies and freight brokers that move ocean containers between ports, rail yards and warehouses. Its drayOS platform handles order entry, dispatch, container tracking, appointment setting, billing and driver payments in one system, and in 2025 it layered on 'Jerry' and 'Helen,' agentic-AI teammates that dispatch loads, validate documents and generate invoices automatically. Founded by Michael Mecca, who grew up in the drayage business, PortPro raised a $12M Series A led by Avenue Growth Partners in 2023 and serves hundreds of drayage carriers and brokers across North America.
Michael Mecca
Michael Mecca is the founder and CEO of PortPro, a Kearny, New Jersey based software company building a TMS purpose-built for drayage carriers and brokers. He grew up in his family's intermodal trucking business, Mecca & Son Trucking, then co-founded Axle Technologies before launching PortPro in 2019. Under his leadership PortPro raised a $12M Series A in 2023 and now serves 550+ drayage companies, layering AI agents (Jerry, Helen) on top of its operating platform.
GridMatrix
GridMatrix is an Austin-and-San-Francisco-linked startup that turns the traffic cameras, radar, and loop detectors cities already own into a live feed of congestion, safety, and emissions data. Founded in 2021 by former Apple and Amazon operations engineers, the company sells cloud software to departments of transportation, port authorities, and campuses that would rather squeeze insight out of existing hardware than buy new sensors. It has raised just under $10 million and now runs on bridges, tunnels, and marine terminals across the country.
Alexandra Griffon
Alexandra Griffon is the co-founder and CEO of BlueCargo, a Y Combinator-backed freighttech startup that turns the chaos of US ports into clean, auditable data. After a stint in M&A at Lazard and retail analytics at Guerlain, she went to UC Berkeley, worked on yard-stacking algorithms inside terminal operators, and discovered ports were a multi-billion-dollar black box. With co-founder Laura Theveniau, she built BlueCargo to monitor, forecast, and dispute the detention and demurrage charges that quietly drain importers' cash. The company has grown from two people to roughly 40, serves over 700 US importers and forwarders, tracks 15M+ container events, and says it has helped recover $175M+ in per diem fees. In 2024 she was named a Rising Star in the Women in Supply Chain Awards.