About Upper: Making Every Delivery Day Better

Born from witnessing the daily battles of delivery drivers navigating inefficient routes and businesses drowning in logistics chaos, Upper’s story is likely your story too—a quest for simplicity in a world where “mathematically perfect” routes often create the worst driver experience.

Hey there!

I’m Riddhi Patel, the CEO of Upper. I’ve been watching the logistics space evolve, and I’ve seen firsthand the struggles that delivery drivers and businesses face every single day.

People often ask me why we built Upper differently. It’s unlike traditional routing software, and only a few get it at first. It challenges conventional logistics rules.

But why?

I wish I could say it was some stroke of genius or a eureka moment.

But the truth is, Upper was born out of sheer frustration with watching hardworking drivers waste hours on poorly planned routes and businesses lose money on inefficient deliveries.

Throughout our journey of building solutions for logistics professionals, we realized something critical: most routing software in the industry is designed for tech-savvy dispatchers, with terrible driver experiences.

Sound familiar?

We kept seeing dedicated delivery drivers struggle with “spaghetti routes” that crossed over themselves, violated logical travel patterns, and made their days miserable.

We watched small businesses burn through fuel costs while customers complained about late deliveries.

It wasn’t that these people couldn’t do their jobs; they just didn’t have the right tools.

Our Story

We asked ourselves:

What if there were routing software with no learning curve?
What if drivers could operate it as easily as they navigate their daily lives?
What if route planning could be as simple as tapping points on a map?

Everyone’s building routing software, but they all assume you’re ready for enterprise-level complexity.

Here’s the kicker, though—efficient routing is needed most by the businesses caught in that sweet spot: too big for Google Maps, but not ready for $50,000+ enterprise solutions.

That’s where the idea of truly intuitive routing came in.

We made it easy to add your delivery stops—either type them in manually or upload them from spreadsheets. We built features that actually work for real business needs without making things complicated.

We also wanted something that actually understood driver psychology, not just mathematical optimization.

So it all started with recognizing that the “best” mathematical route often creates the worst driver experience. On top of that, we started building intelligent algorithms that balance efficiency with human logic.

One thing we knew from our experience was that businesses in this space have diverse needs—some are solo drivers, others manage entire fleets.

So we developed Upper Solo for individual drivers, and Upper Crew for multi-driver teams, ensuring the software adapts to what you want to get done.

What Makes Upper Different?

Upper isn’t just another routing platform. It’s a movement towards logistics software that actually works for real people doing real deliveries.

We focus on the driver experience. While competitors obsess over mathematical perfection, we create routes that make sense to humans. No more backtracking, no more logical violations, and no more frustrated drivers.

We eliminate the complexity gap. Traditional routing software assumes you’re either using Google Maps or ready for enterprise complexity.

We serve the 90% of businesses caught in between—those who’ve outgrown basic tools but need something that won’t overwhelm their teams.

We make route planning intuitive. Drag-and-drop route editing, one-click dispatch to drivers, real-time messaging between dispatchers and drivers, and the ability to make last-minute changes without chaos.

We understand real-world constraints. Vehicle load balancing, custom delivery zones, delivery time windows, and proof of delivery features that actually work in the field.

The results speak for themselves.

Our customers typically see a 20-40% reduction in fuel costs, complete 2-3 more deliveries per day, and—most importantly—their drivers actually follow the routes because they make sense.

Our Vision Forward

We’re not just building routing software; we’re reimagining how logistics should work.

Our vision is simple: every delivery should be efficient, every driver should have a good day, and every business should be able to grow without logistics holding them back.

We continue to test our hypothesis that logistics software shouldn’t require weeks of training or force people to work against their instincts.

We believe there’s a better way to plan routes, dispatch drivers, and manage deliveries.

It’s been an incredible journey so far, and we have so many people to thank—especially our customers who trusted us to handle their daily operations.

But most of all, we feel a deep sense of responsibility to continue making the best product we can for businesses and drivers who desperately need logistics to just work better.

The road ahead is exciting, and we’re just getting started.

Whether you’re a solo driver trying to optimize your daily routes or a growing business managing a fleet, Upper is here to make your logistics effortless. Because at the end of the day, great logistics isn’t about perfect algorithms—it’s about real people delivering real value to real customers, efficiently and reliably.