Sennder Raises $70M For Digital Freight Tech

The Berlin-based startup Sennder, which connects commercial shippers and smaller freight carriers, announced a significant round of funding to take on the logistics market with an updated digital platform.

The company has raised $70 million in a Series C funding round with a reported valuation in the neighborhood of $300 million, according to reports.

The funding was led by Lakestar and also includes participation from Accel, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, H14 and others. This is the second funding round this year, with a previous Series B having brought in $30 million this past spring.

“We have pooled our knowledge and experience gathered in our previous roles to improve operational excellence in this highly complex market. Our relentless focus on product and industry pain points has helped us to deliver an impressive portfolio of global, highly satisfied enterprise clients,” Co-founders David Nothacker and Julius Koehler said in a statement.

Founded in Berlin in 2016, the Sennder platform is working to modernize and automate the industry with a mobile app that lets truckers see jobs and accept loads. Other fleet management and logistics tools are also in the works.

Sennder is focusing its efforts on the European market, and is part of a global push to digitize the industry.

“The investments by venture capital firms Lakestar and Accel show that we have identified a massive challenge and its solution that will play a vital role for the future of the European logistic markets,” said Co-founder Nicolaus Schefenacker.

The industry’s continued use of manual tools to connect shippers to carriers, manage documents and send payments makes it ripe for logistics improvements and new ventures. In 2018, FreightHub, a company working to accelerate B2B payments to truck operators, secured $500 million in financing, and raised another $30 million in May of this year.

Additionally, logistics and freight startup Flexport raised $1 billion in funding in February led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund.

Uber is continuing to invest in its trucking business, Uber Freight, and recently added a rating system to its app. So far, more than 10,000 facilities in the U.S. have been rated during the two months the feature was in pilot testing.