Hauler Hero secures $16M to scale AI for waste operations
Hauler Hero has raised $16 million in a Series A led by Frontier Growth, with participation from K5 Global and Somersault Ventures. The New York startup has now raised more than $27 million to date.
The company offers an all-in-one platform for waste management companies - CRM, billing, routing, and now AI agents. The goal is simple: replace clunky legacy tools with software that helps operators move faster, serve customers better, and get paid with fewer disputes.
Why this matters for operations leaders
Co-founders Mark Hoadley (CEO) and Ben Sikma started the company in 2020 after running into outdated systems during M&A work in the sector. According to Hoadley, many tools felt stuck in a past era - slow interfaces, brittle workflows, and limited visibility into field operations.
Since launch, the platform has helped facilitate 35 million trash pickups. The team reports it has doubled headcount, revenue, and customer count since its seed round in late 2024 - clear signs that operators are prioritizing modernization.
New visibility from the street to the command center
One of Hauler Hero's newer features pulls images from third-party cameras mounted on trucks and streams them into a central dashboard. Managers can use the footage to confirm pickups, resolve billing disputes, and monitor distributed fleets without adding headcount.
There are understandable concerns from some sanitation workers and unions. The company notes that many agreements prevent using footage for discipline, and that video evidence can protect drivers in the event of accidents or claims of missed service. The broader intent: bring factory-level quality control to field work.
Three AI agents built for waste ops
- Hero Vision: Flags service issues and potential revenue opportunities automatically.
- Hero Chat: Answers customer questions and deflects common tickets.
- Hero Route: Uses route and work-order data to adjust routes for efficiency.
The platform already holds detailed data on pickups, work orders, and billing. With AI agents that can read and act on that data, managers can request insights on demand - "build me a chart," "find missed pickup patterns," "optimize tomorrow's routes" - without waiting on a report.
Go-to-market focus: municipalities and a tighter vendor landscape
Part of the new funding will go toward commercializing the AI agents and expanding offerings for municipal customers. City and county demand has picked up, driven in part by vendor consolidation after Routeware and Wastech merged in 2024, which left fewer alternatives on the table.
Hauler Hero says the near-term plan is straightforward: refine what works, scale deployment, and continue shipping features that deliver measurable savings and better service reliability.
What managers should track next
- ROI proof points: Reduction in missed pickups, faster dispute resolution, route-time savings, and impact on DSO.
- Change management: Driver buy-in and union engagement; clear rules for how video is used.
- Data controls: Retention policies for footage, customer privacy standards, and audit trails on AI decisions.
- System fit: Integrations with billing, CRM, and telematics - and how quickly teams can go from pilot to full rollout.
- Vendor resilience: With fewer large providers, evaluate support quality, pricing leverage, and roadmap transparency.
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