A freight forwarding startup in Europe has raised $30 million in a Series B funding round. FreightHub, headquartered in Berlin, aims to replace what it views as antiquated methods for freight forwarding, such as outdated IT systems and non-automated processes.
According to a report, the round is led by Rider Global, a venture fund founded by logistics experts. Maersk Growth, another shipping-related investor, is also involved.
Previous investors also participating in this round include Northzone, Cherry Ventures and Global Founders Capital. Unbound, an investment firm in the U.K., also put in for the round.
There has been a lot of interest from startups and investors in the freight industry, which is overdue for digitization. FreightHub, which offers services for sea, air and rail freight, was first built on digitized processes. It handles data exchange, booking, communication, supply chain services and document management.
The company previously raised $20 million in a Series A round, which it focused on digital communication between customers, suppliers and partners. It also used the seed money to grow functions for system integration, and expanded its service portfolio by obtaining an IATA license to handle air freight services.
“Our forwarding solution offers more transparency, reliability and ultimately time and cost advantages for large and mid-sized organizations,” said CCO Michael Wax. “Today, we serve some of the most well-known German brands, and grew our volumes again three times year over year.”
FreightHub has upwards of 1,500 customers, including Viessmann, Miele and home24. The company has locations in Berlin and Hamburg, and just opened a new office in Hong Kong. It also recently acquired a sea freight forwarder that is specialized for Asian imports.
“Our recent growth trajectory has confirmed the potential that our digital solutions can realize for both our customers and FreightHub’s internal processes,” said FreightHub Founder and CEO Ferry Heilemann. “We will use the fresh capital to further develop our digital service offering and to expand our presence in Asia.”