Uber Freight tries to grab a slice of Europe trucking market with German expansion: 6 local startups to watch out for

|

|

Last update:

Even though the logistics technology has improved drastically over time, the trucking sector remains mostly untouched. The industry has struggled to overcome significant efficiencies like dependence of manual driver, excessive paperwork, running empty trucks, and much more.

It’s no secret that logistics remains one of the bottlenecks faced by several players in Europe. Following the recent call for action by the German industry to address logistical bottlenecks and severe driver shortage, Uber Freight will now introduce its logistics on-demand platform after the Netherlands.

Daniel Buczkowski, Uber Freight’s Head of European Expansion, said:

In an increasingly demanding sector, Uber Freight has the power to unlock efficiencies that drive the entire German industry forward.

The U.S. ride-hailing company is on a mission to capitalise the $500 billion worth trucking industry in Europe, the third-largest in the world after China and the United States.

According to the World Bank, around 40% of German truck drivers will retire in the next 10 years, generating a shortage of 150,000 drivers. On top of that, 21% of the total miles traveled is empty as well. The inefficiency of this scale results in shippers struggling to find available drivers.

Notably, small-to-medium sized carriers in Germany make up more than 90% of the carrier pool, and they experience the most difficulties connecting with larger shippers

Amidst this chaos, Uber Freight aims to unite the industry towards a more efficient and transparent future. Here, Uber Freight plays a middle-man role with an organized pricing arrangement.

Uber will compete directly with many local players as listed below. Check it out.

 width=

Sennder (Berlin)

Founders: David Nothacker, Julius Koehler, Nicolas Stephan, Nicolaus Schefenacker

Funding: €64.6M

Sennder is a leading digital road freight forwarder in continental Europe, linking large commercial shippers with small freight carriers. It offers a new level of automation, transparency, and efficiency to the European €300 billion road freight market. The platform digitalises the truckload-shipping ecosystem by providing mobile apps to drivers, fleet management tools to carrier managers, and logistics management solutions to shippers.

 width=

FreightHub (Berlin)

Founders: Erik Muttersbach, Fabian Heilemann, Ferry Heilemann, Michael Wax

Funding: €48.5M

Founded in 2016, this platform offers real-time insights and delivering transparency to customers. This platform features past, current, and future freight shipments, keep track of missing documents, stores files for future use, and offers an overview of the supply chain.

 width=

Smartlane (Munich)

Founders: Mathias Baur

Funding: €1.5M

This cloud-based platform offers a new level of efficiency and reliability, by enabling fully-automated transport planning as well as industry-specific process mining capabilities. Automate plan includes dynamic order planning, route optimization, and real-time about the order status and the position of the delivery for customers.

 width=

InstaFreight (Berlin)

Founders: Maximilian Schaefer, Philipp Ortwein

Funding: €8M

InstaFreight is a B2B digital forwarding company that works as a one-stop-shop for road freight. This platform offers a click & buy experience with instant pricing for the customers.

 width=

Seven Senders (Berlin)

Founders: Johannes Plehn, Thomas Hagemann

Funding: €22.5M

Seven Senders connects shippers to all local last-mile carrier networks in Europe. This platform is equipped with a fast and efficient delivery solution adjusted to the needs and demands of the end customers.

 width=

Cargo One (Berlin)

Founders: Mike Rötgers, Moritz Claussen, Oliver T. Neumann

Funding: €2M

Founded in 2017, it is the digital platform for freight forwarders to search, compare, and book air freight capacities across airlines. This platform offers lower costs and higher operational efficiency.

Stay tuned to Silicon Canals for more updates in the tech startup world.

https://siliconcanals.com/news/5-secrets-to-successful-international-fundraising-from-an-industry-insider/

 

Topics:

Follow us:

Editorial team

The editorial team of Silicon Canals brings you technology news from the European startup ecosystem. 

Partner eventsMore events

Current Month

21mar5:15 pm7:00 pmDiscover the final projects of our students

02apr(apr 2)8:00 am04(apr 4)6:00 am0100 Europe 2025

16apr8:00 am6:00 pmAWS Summit Amsterdam 2025An amazing day of learning and doing

Share to...