Doubling down on sennder
A short history
We first heard of sennder in 2016. Back then, the team set out to optimize parcel logistics by utilizing unused capacity in passenger buses. Being the first institutional investor in Flixbus, Germany’s largest long-distance travel provider, we understood the opportunity. Yet, we also were painfully aware of the operational complexities ahead and relatively easy passed on sennder’s seed financing round. Still, we were impressed by the team’s commitment and drive and decided to keep close tabs on the company.
Fast forward to early 2018 and a new picture had emerged: Having listened closely to dozens of potential customers, the team realized that the challenges of 21st century logistics were much more profound. Moving away from the initial idea, they had started to build a full-fledge freight forwarder empowered by digital technology. This would allow the team to overhaul traditional forwarders thereby increasing transparency and cutting-out an average of 2–3 middle-men along the way. More importantly however, it enabled them to improve the lives of potentially over 400.000 carriers in Europe.
With the new concept, the team hit what all founders and VCs dream of when speaking about “product-market” fit. Combining consistent >20% monthly growth and strong unit economics, sennder started their Series A fundraising process. To provide the best set-up for the company, we reached out to our friends from Project A and Jochen, Daniel and André from Flixbus for what we hoped would end up to be an irresistible offer to the team. And, to our utmost delight, David, Nico and Julius shared both our values and vision of sennder and allowed us to become a small part of their journey.
Another twelve months later, having spent only a fraction of the Series A investment, the team raised their Series B led by Accel to accelerate European expansion and technological development.
Investing in sennder’s Series C
Today, a couple of months later, the team successfully completed its Series C fundraising with new investors Lakestar and Next47 joining. Why, you may ask, comes a new round so shortly after the company’s Series B? In this post, we want to shed some light and share with you why we, alongside fellow investors Lakestar, Accel, Next47, Project A and Scania Growth Capital, are so excited do double-down in sennder’s Series C:
1. Road-freight is the backbone of the European economy
We as VCs like to think of market sizes. How big is the total addressable market? How much of that is serviceable, how much obtainable? And indeed, the market for road-freight logistics is enormous. Zooming in on sennder’s focus, full-truck loads, the addressable market is estimated to be around 100B€ across Europe (and growing!) with sennder already being active in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, BeNeLux and Poland. Yet, we believe that it’s not only size that matters. Much more importantly, we believe that road-freight has been, is and will continue to be the backbone of the European economy. It is the infrastructure that empowers millions of small and medium-sized businesses and facilitates the exchange of goods and services across European countries. Making this infrastructure as efficient as possible, therefore, is really about laying the foundation for future economic growth in Europe. Something that we’re extremely excited about.
2. Technology has barely hinted at its full potential
When we first thought about an investment in logistics, we were sure that the sheer complexity of daily transactions makes the use of modern technology a pre-requisite. Little did we know about the road-freight industry back then. Throughout the due diligence and during our work with sennder, we learned that over 90% of shippers cared about only two things: price & quality. And while these are absolute crucial criteria that will remain unchanged, we also believe that technology can have a significant positive effect on both of these. In fact, two of the most progressive customers of sennder’s noted that it was only for sennder’s technological capabilities that they were working with sennder. This knowledge, combined with our conviction on technological change, led us to believe that we’ve today barely understood the possible impact of technology on the massive European road-freight market.
3. Culture is everything
Many VCs, us included, will tell you about the value of great founders for each new venture. With sennder, or so I have observed, things go even further. There seems to be a dedicated sennder spirit, a warm and buzzing vibe, that welcomes you the first moment you enter their office. It combines a feeling of “everything is possible” with a humbleness and gratefulness that is also shared by each of the three founders. The team around David, Julius and Nico did an incredible job at creating a unique sennder culture that each new employee is first introduced to in the week-long “sennder academy” and later refined across daily work, dedicated events such as the sennder summer camp and a sennder-own E-Commerce store (baby clothing included!).
Take all three, combine them with continued growth and strong economics and I hope you’ll understand why we’re deeply grateful and excited to be able to continue backing the team on their marvelous journey.
What’s next?
The new funding enables the team to accelerate its strong growth path across existing and new European markets, attract the most ambitious and talented people to sennder and continue building and deploying its technology for shippers and carriers. Through a perfect combination of vision and execution, the team put itself in a unique position to capture the European road-freight market. And maybe one day, please excuse some wishful thinking, we’ll see 10 orange trucks for every one green Flixbus on the road. The opportunity is big enough!
