Charlotte, NC, October 19th, 2026, NewsDirect
The decisions that drive revenue in freight now happen in seconds, on each company’s own strategy, and each one informs the next. Some of the biggest names in trucking already run on Graypool, including Werner, Prime, Hirschbach, and Marten.
HOPTEK is now Graypool, a freight monetization platform for truckload carriers, from mid-size fleets to the largest networks. The company is backed by $5 million in pre-seed funding from Jerk Ventures, Kearney, LPX Partners, Venture 53 and Werner Enterprises. Graypool is unveiling the new name this week at the American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition (MCE) in Charlotte, at booth #22104, and at graypool.com.
“Every day, carriers receive more freight opportunities than their teams can evaluate consistently, against one company strategy, before those opportunities expire. Future contract freight, contract tenders, and spot and transactional freight all compete for the same limited decision capacity,” said Marc Held, CEO of Graypool. He added, “Every load is a decision, and every decision is money — made or lost in the minutes before a truck moves. Most carriers still make those calls by hand, one email and one phone call at a time. Graypool gives a carrier its own best judgment on every load, at machine speed.”
Graypool Accept decides which freight enters the network and how to execute it profitably. Graypool Source decides which spot and transactional freight to pursue. Together, Graypool gives each freight opportunity an economic decision before execution, at machine speed. It works with existing TMS, EDI connections, and load boards.
Every decision is recorded with its reasoning and its outcome. That record belongs to the customer, and it is the foundation for what Graypool builds next.
Products and Proof
In production today:
- Graypool Accept evaluates contract and spot tenders against the customer’s network strategy and economics, accepts the freight that is profitable for the network, finds the best execution mode for each load, tracks contract freight against commitments, and routes the rest for negotiation or review.
- Graypool Source automatically finds and evaluates spot freight across load boards, shipper and 3PL sources, prices each opportunity against the customer’s network strategy, and bids or books within the customer’s policy.
Werner is awarded $1.5 million in freight a week through Graypool Source. Across its customers, carriers have booked $150 million in annualized freight revenue through Graypool Source.
“Graypool automates the large majority of our tender decisions,” said Jaime Jones, Senior Vice President, Werner Enterprises. “On the loads that don’t fit, it finds a better option before we commit a truck. That’s revenue we now capture every week, and it’s why we invested.”
Graypool’s Investors Run the Logistics Value Chain Gamut
Graypool’s investors sit on every side of the freight business. Werner Enterprises, one of the largest truckload carriers in the U.S., is Graypool’s anchor customer. Kearney, the global management consulting firm, runs transportation procurement for some of the world’s largest shippers and works with the largest U.S. carriers. LPX Partners is the investment and advisory arm of Logistics Plus, the global transportation, warehousing and supply chain company founded in Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1996. Venture 53, an Atlanta venture fund that invests only in transportation, logistics and supply chain technology, with a portfolio that includes Highway, MyCarrier and Optym, and Jerk Ventures, a supply chain-focused angel syndicate, complete the group.
Noted Marc Held, “Our investors sit on every side of the freight business, and they backed us because they have seen it work up close.”
“We run transportation procurement for some of the biggest shippers in the world, and we work closely with the carriers that move their freight. Both sides want the same thing: find the right partner fast and get moving. We think Graypool will fundamentally change how carriers and shippers work with each other, and we’re excited to be working alongside the team,” said Stefan Simonetti, Partner, Kearney.
“Freight companies grow on the decisions they make before a truck moves,” said John G. Larkin, Senior Partner, Venture 53. “Graypool has turned those decisions into software that runs on each company’s own strategy, and it’s already proven in production. A large market, a working product and a team that knows trucking from the inside is what we look for.”
Graypool will use the backing to bring more truckload carriers onto the platform, connect their capacity to more sources of demand, deepen its intelligence, and grow its go-to-market and engineering teams.
About Graypool
Graypool is a freight monetization platform for truckload carriers. It runs the pre-dispatch decisions that turn a carrier’s capacity into revenue: which tenders to accept, which spot freight to pursue and at what price, and how to execute each load. Every decision runs on the carrier’s own strategy, economics, and policy, at machine speed. Graypool is headquartered in Atlanta and was formerly known as HOPTEK. Learn more at graypool.com.
Contact
Meir KahtanMeir Kahtan Public Relations
[email protected]
