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Founder / Operator·Freight & 3PL

Felipe Capella

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Loadsmart

Chicago, IL

FC
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Why they matter

Co-founder/CEO who scaled Loadsmart to a $1.3B freight-tech platform and has personally led every major fundraise and acquisition since 2014.

Background

Felipe Capella co-founded Loadsmart in July 2014 alongside Ricardo Salgado, building it into a digital freight technology platform that has raised roughly $384M across six rounds and reached a $1.3B valuation. He rose internally from Chief Product Officer to President/COO (2020) to Co-CEO (2021) before becoming sole CEO in May 2022, and holds law degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Universidad Francisco de Vitoria plus an MBA from FGV Brazil.

Notable deals

  • 2022
    Led Loadsmart's $200M Series D at a $1.3B valuation, led by SoftBank Latin America Fund with BlackRock, Janus Henderson and CSX participating
  • 2020
    Led Loadsmart's $90M Series C round from BlackRock's managed funds, with TFI International and Maersk as strategic investors
  • 2021
    Oversaw Loadsmart's acquisitions of dock-scheduling platform Opendock and trucking management system Kamion
  • 2023
    Recognized by Goldman Sachs as one of the 'Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs of 2023' at its Builders and Innovators Summit

Call-prep brief

Background

  • Co-founded Loadsmart in 2014; rose from Chief Product Officer through President/COO and Co-CEO to sole CEO (May 2022)
  • Law background (UPenn, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria) plus FGV Brazil MBA — unusual legal/regulatory lens for a freight-tech founder
  • Previously launched promotional marketing platform Duelus and advised the Inter-American Development Bank

Current focus

  • Steering Loadsmart's pivot from pure freight brokerage toward a broader software stack (ShipperGuide TMS, Opendock dock scheduling, NavTrac computer vision) and managed transportation services
  • Publicly emphasizes capital discipline over "freight subsidies and expensive sales blitzscaling" as the company's differentiator versus digital-freight peers

What they care about

  • API-driven, technology-first growth over subsidized volume growth
  • Consolidating shippers, carriers, and warehouses onto one digital platform (his repeated "one-stop shop" framing)
  • Operational efficiency metrics (empty miles, dock wait times, yard visibility)

Recent moves

  • Acquired NavTrac (computer vision for yard/terminal management) in September 2023, layering onto the 2021 Opendock/Kamion acquisitions
  • Company now serves 3,000+ warehouses via Opendock

Potential sensitivities

  • Series D valuation ($1.3B, Feb 2022) predates the 2022-2023 freight recession and broader tech markdown — current valuation likely a sensitive topic
  • Freight brokerage margins have compressed sector-wide; probe how Loadsmart's software/SaaS mix has offset brokerage volatility

Questions to ask

  1. How has the revenue mix shifted between brokerage and software (TMS/Opendock/NavTrac) since 2022, and what does that do to margin durability?
  2. Given the Series D was priced before the freight downturn, how does he view Loadsmart's current valuation and next capital-raising timeline?
  3. What's the integration thesis behind stacking Opendock, Kamion, and NavTrac — is the endgame a vertically integrated yard/dock OS, or bolt-on data assets?

Outreach draft

Subject
Loadsmart's platform strategy — quick call?
Hi Felipe, I've been following Loadsmart's evolution from digital brokerage into a fuller software stack — the Opendock, Kamion, and NavTrac acquisitions paint a clear picture of where you're taking the platform. I'm on a deal team doing work in freight brokerage and 3PL technology, and your perspective on how software and managed transportation are changing unit economics in this space would be genuinely useful as we think through the sector. Would you have 20-30 minutes in the next couple of weeks for a call? Happy to work around your schedule. Best, [Your Name]

Linked companies

Sources