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Open Mile Raises $6M Series B Round for Online Freight Transportation Brokerage

Self-Service Web and Mobile Technologies Help Shipping and Trucking Companies Match Supply and Demand Effectively and Economically
Thursday, March 3, 2011

Self-Service Web and Mobile Technologies Help Shipping and Trucking Companies Match Supply and Demand Effectively and Economically

BOSTON February 24, 2011 – Open Mile, the first online self-service transportation brokerage for the truckload industry, today announced the closing of a $6 million series B round of funding led by Globespan Capital Partners with participation from existing investor Charles River Ventures. The new funds will be used to expand the engineering, sales and product development functions, and build out the Open Mile executive sales and marketing teams.
Open Mile is the first automated online logistics provider in the $60 billion transportation brokerage industry, shifting the traditionally manual, phone and fax-based industry to web and mobile technologies. Launched in May 2010, Open Mile has rapidly scaled to a multi-million dollar business by applying a combination of enterprise and consumer-oriented technology to this fragmented industry.
“Open Mile is delivering a disruptive service that is shaking the freight transportation industry at its core,” said Andy Goldfarb of Globespan Capital Partners, the lead investor of the new round. “This team has tapped into a real need in a market fraught with outdated, manual approaches. They have already achieved tremendous growth and with this infusion of new capital, Open Mile will continue to transform the industry.”
Continued Charles River Ventures Partner Devdutt Yellukar: “Carriers like working with Open Mile because it’s a no-hassle, self-service virtual sales force that brings qualified opportunities to their door that weren’t there before. Shippers like it because Open Mile is transparent, providing better truckload rates than traditional brokers as well as improved service and reliability. Open Mile’s unique, consumer-centric approach to the transportation industry is fundamentally changing the way business is conducted.”
Steve Gold, the former Chief Supply Chain Officer of PepsiCo and current Open Mile board member, concurs. “Having previously managed one of the largest transportation networks in North America, I view Open Mile’s vision as game-changing for the truckload transportation industry.  The ability to connect shippers of all sizes to the thousands of trucking companies and millions of drivers in real-time by utilizing mobile devices is a breakthrough that provides the right mix of price, service and visibility never before available in the industry.”
Open Mile currently has 5,000 trucking entities in its network, and works with numerous small, mid-sized and large shipping organizations in the consumer-packaged goods, industrial and food industries.
“With this round of capital, our expansion plans are to continue to bring together the best in enterprise and consumer-oriented technology as well as significantly grow our sales, marketing and engineering organizations,” said Evan Schumacher, chief executive officer, Open Mile.

ABOUT OPEN MILE
Open Mile (www.openmile.com) is the transportation industry’s first online self-service brokerage. Providing logistics services for both carriers and shippers, Open Mile powers a smarter freight industry, providing shippers with lower costs and better service, and carriers with new customers and revenue opportunities. Open Mile is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.openmile.com. Follow us on Twitter at @openmile.