Trucksters to electrify long-distance logistics from Spain

Spanish transport company Trucksters has closed a €33 million Series B funding round and announced plans to electrify parts of its long-distance freight transport service. The new investors include Continental, Volvo and the European Investment Bank.

Trucksters offers long-distance freight transport services with a truck switching system based on artificial intelligence and Big Data and wants to be one of the first companies to go electric on the long haul. The Spanish company plans to start using several electric trucks shortly, the number of which will be increased in the course of the year. By the end of 2023, at least one of the routes served by Trucksters is to be 100 per cent electric. More on this in a moment.

The financing round has now been completed, in the course of which Continental, Volvo and the European Investment Bank, among others, have joined the existing investors, which include the German fund Amplifier VC as well as the Spanish funds BigSur Ventures, Bonsai Partners, Kibo Ventures, The Valley VC and the international fund Metavallon VC. According to the company, the financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) was provided as part of the European InvestEU programme.

The just over 33 million euros now raised should enable the company to “realise some of its strategic goals, including the electrification of routes, which could make Trucksters the first company in Europe to transport goods over electrified long-distance routes”, according to an emailed statement from Trucksters. The company also cites strengthening its IT and management teams and opening new international corridors as other goals.

Founded in 2018, the logistics specialist already closed a €14.3 million Series A round in March 2022. The company’s business core is an “innovative relay system” that primarily addresses large customers. “Trucksters offers them fast and reliable solutions, such as increasing the size of their fleet to meet higher demand,” it says. The customer base is said to currently include more than 600 international companies, including Samsung, Bosch, LG, DHL and Nestlé.

Trucksters currently operates in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Poland, the United Kingdom, France and Spain. The routes served since 2020 are from Spain to other European nations. Specifically, there are four main corridors: from central/northern Spain to Dortmund, from the Spanish east coast to the Benelux countries and western Germany, from the Spanish east coast to Poland and, as of this year, from central Spain to the UK. The company does not specify which of these corridors is to be electrified by the end of 2023.

According to company statistics, Trucksters moves more than 600 trucks and completed around 2,000 so-called relay tours last year, whereby the principle of the relay is transferred to logistics, so to speak, and trucks always only cover a partial route before exchanging the load and driving back to their starting point. Trucksters wants to perfect this principle thanks to an AI-controlled relay system – and refers to itself as “express relay transport”.

Luis Bardají, co-founder and CEO of Trucksters, emphasises that when they were founded they never thought “that after only a few years we would formalise a partnership like the one we have just signed with Volvo and Continental. Having them as our shareholders is a dream come true, he says: “Safety, putting drivers in the spotlight, sustainability and electrification are the elements that led us to found Trucksters, and at the same time they are among the trademarks of both companies. We can learn a lot from what they have already created and we look forward to starting this new phase together.”

The two aforementioned players also have their say in the Spanish company’s announcement, with Jürgen Bilo, managing director of Continental’s Corporate Venture Capital Unit, commenting, “The investment at Trucksters is in line with our vision of mobility, which encompasses innovative data-driven fleet management solutions, ensures operational efficiency and promotes sustainable growth. In addition to their excellent team and strong business model, we believe Trucksters’ solution will revolutionise fleet management and shape the future of transport.”

“We are impressed with what Trucksters has achieved and see that the Volvo Group can add significant strategic value to the development of the business. Given the growing demand in freight transport, staff systems can provide a solid structure for long-haul electrification as well as autonomous solutions in the future,” said Martin Witt, President of Volvo Group Venture Capital.

With reporting by Cora Werwitzke, France.

Source: Info via email,  prnewswire.com