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The additional $80m was raised through the second closing of sennder’s Series D funding round, at a valuation exceeding $1bn
New investor Baillie Gifford led the round. All of sennder’s major investors participated, reaffirming their long-term support of sennder’s ambition to digitize road-freight
The additional funding will help sennder capitalize on growth opportunities, financing pan-European expansion through acquisitions, strategic partnerships and investment in its SaaS offering
BERLIN, June 01, 2021 – sennder, Europe’s leading digital road freight forwarder, announces the raise of $80m, through the second closing of its Series D funding round. The announcement follows the first close in January 2021 and brings the total size of the round to $240m.
New investor, Baillie Gifford, which has invested in high-growth technology companies including Amazon, Tesla and Spotify, adds sennder to its European Growth Trust portfolio. To date, sennder has raised more than $350m; valued in excess of $1bn, sennder is Europe’s most valuable digital freight forwarder.
The new funds will accelerate sennder’s growth across Europe as the business strengthens its position in core markets and further expands into new regions. sennder will continue to take advantage of strategic growth opportunities, both organically and via acquisitions.
Since its founding in 2015, the business has grown exponentially; in 2020 sennder consolidated the market by acquiring digital freight forwarders Uber Freight Europe and Everoad. sennder also entered into a joint venture with the Italian postal service, Poste Italiane, making sennder Italia the largest domestic FTL (full truck load) freight forwarder.
The business is now targeting additional acquisitions of local road freight companies to enhance truck supply and increase network density on its sennOS platform. The announcement follows sennder’s recent acquisition of Dutch logistics player, Cars&Cargo, and strategic partnership with Zeitfracht.
David Nothacker, CEO and Co-Founder of sennder, said: “We are delighted to have carried our momentum from 2020 into 2021, having already made one acquisition and signed several strategic partnerships. We look to expand our European footprint, bringing more carriers and shippers onto the sennder platform, while expanding our digital offering - such as SaaS. Acquisitions and strategic partnerships are part of this strategy – the additional funds give us the flexibility to capitalize on the right opportunities. Baillie Gifford has backed a wave of revolutionary tech companies; their commitment to sennder is a vote of confidence in our team, technology, and business model.”
sennder’s mission is to make freight fit for a sustainable future; through its digital platform, sennder directly connects enterprise shippers with small and medium-sized trucking companies. As the platform scales, sennder can offer shippers and carriers more routes, greater visibility, bigger efficiency savings while decreasing carbon emissions. sennder will expand its technology offering by continuing to deploy the initial capital raised in January 2021 to grow the team across its eight European hubs and further develop the platform’s SaaS capabilities. The funds will also drive research and development into the automation, digitalization and decarbonization of road freight,
Stephen Paice, Co-manager, Baillie Gifford European Growth Trust PLC said: : “We are delighted to join the sennder team on its journey to disrupt Europe’s logistics industry. We strongly believe its technology has the potential to create tremendous value for stakeholders and society in an industry plagued with inefficiencies and needless CO2 emissions. What’s particularly impressive, beyond the progress shown so far, is the purpose-driven and entrepreneurial mind-set instilled within the company. This will no doubt be an important factor for long-term success.”
The sennder platform comprises 12,500 trucks servicing ten German DAX 30 and eleven Euro Stoxx 50 shippers – moving more than 1 million truckloads in 2021. sennder employs more than 840 employees across its eight international offices.
J.P. Morgan Securities PLC was the sole placement agent for sennder’s Series D funding raise.
About sennder
sennder was founded in 2015 by David Nothacker, Julius Köhler and Nicolaus Schefenacker and is now the leading digital European freight forwarder, offering shippers access to our connected fleet of thousands of trucks. In a traditional industry sennder is moving fast and focuses on the digitalization and automation of all road logistics processes. sennder manages over 12,500 trucks across Europe with an over 840 people strong team. By leveraging its proprietary technology, sennder builds an ecosystem that leads the industry into the 21st century with a new degree of transparency, efficiency and flexibility. sennder is backed by some of Europe’s leading investors including Baillie Gifford, Accel, Lakestar, HV Capital, Project A, Next47, Scania Growth Capital, Earlybird and Perpetual. Additionally, sennder joined forces with industry champions Scania and Siemens to assure innovation and state of the art offerings.
For further information, please visit us on our website and LinkedIn.
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