In a recent development, Dutch transport startup Quicargo, which is a B2B online marketplace for empty spaces in trucks received a €900k seed investment. The investment has come from a group of Dutch and German logistics experts and angel investors, including previous investors.
As per the company press release, the fresh capital from angels will be followed by an international VC round. Adding further to the announcement, the Amsterdam-based online company will launch its services internationally, starting in Belgium (the Antwerp- and Ghent-area) and Germany (the Ruhr-area).
Reportedly, 83% of the Dutch road freight traffic already goes to those two countries.
Commenting on the same, founder and CEO of Quicargo, Avishai Trabelsi, stated: “As a start, we will set up offices in the Antwerp- and Ruhr-area, mainly because of their key position as a logistics hub. We already help deliver to those areas, and the interconnectivity with Dutch transport hubs Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Venlo is outstanding, in fact, we see it as the same logistic ecosystem.”
He further added, “For us, other than enrolling new staff members, it requires little effort to go to these places and do pick-ups as well. Deliveries to both areas, for instance, already accumulate to 17% of our revenue.”
Founded by Israeli CEO, Avishai Trabelsi and Roni Liberman (CPO), Quicargo aims to tackle inefficiency in the road freight industry by connecting trucks with spare capacity to any business that needs transportation. The company plans to hit the market of 6 million trucks in Europe which run (partially) empty. Quicargo believes that connecting demand and supply will help transport companies to increase profitability.
At the same time, the company claims that they should not be mistaken as Uber for trucks. Quicargo is not eager to change the current workflow and existing transport management software by using new interfaces, apps or external software. Rather, they plan to embed their new technology in the existing workflow, following, they can connect with shipping providers within 24 hours.
Quicargo also claims to have built a pricing algorithm, that will enable tailor-made matching within 60 seconds.
Trabelsi also stated, “With the Quicargo-platform, we substantially lessen the administrative burden for them by adding payments and insurance options. I am proud that already after 7 months we see that our clients use the generated data to improve their business performance, and at the same time we all decrease the CO2 footprint and congestion on the road.”
Launched in September 2017, Quicargo currently connects almost 1.000 businesses to roughly 5000 trucks from 200 carriers. The company saw a growth in the number of shipment and revenue up to 27% every month.
The best part is, in ten months’ time Quicargo has already saved up to 120.000 km of empty truck space on the road and thereby reduced CO2 emission with 3% saving on to the gas, manpower, air pollution, and road congestion.
Take a look at the video below to know more about Quicargo.
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