Icon: enlarge
Full
speed
ahead:
The Sennder founders
Julius Köhler, Nicolaus Schefenacker
and
David Nothacker
pose in the typical business management look
Photo: PR
Fresh money for the shopping spree: The Berlin logistics start-up Sennder has raised a good 140 million euros in venture capital from investors such as Lakestar, Project A and the truck manufacturer Scania.
The company announced this on Wednesday in Berlin.
According to company circles, the valuation rises to around 1.1 billion euros.
The founders
Julius Köhler
(32),
Nicolaus Schefenacker
(31) and
David Nothacker
(33)
want to use the money primarily for acquisitions.
This year alone they want to take over "two to five" freight forwarders, Nothacker told manager magazin.
Sennder's business model is primarily based on size and network effects.
To do this, you also have to grow inorganically, says Nothacker.
Sennder wants to digitize the classic logistics business and thus increase efficiency and margins.
With the help of specially developed software, trucks should be better utilized and tours planned more sensibly.
The European freight forwarding market is still very fragmented and characterized by small businesses.
Sennder wants to bring these together with customers more efficiently with its platform.
In addition, the start-up claims to be able to work faster and cheaper thanks to the digitization of office processes in the background.
This is also how the traditional freight forwarding companies that have been taken over are handled.
"They mostly still work with Excel and the telephone," says Nothacker.
Nothacker states that they want to generate one billion euros in sales by 2023, and two billion euros by 2025.
Even if established competitors like Kuehne + Nagel (turnover 2019: a good 23.4 billion euros) also rely on digital platforms, he sees Sennder at an advantage in the long term: "We are more agile, more flexible and can invest a little more."
Sennder used his venture capital for growth through acquisitions last year.
In the summer, the start-up founded a joint venture with the Italian Post Office and in the fall took over the European freight business of the US mobility giant Uber.
The company was founded in 2015 and today employs a good 800 people.
According to its own information, Sennder has access to over 10,000 trucks in Europe from its own and partner companies.