German digital freight forwarder, sennder has acquired the French rival freight technology company, Everoad, to build the largest digital road freight forwarding platform in Europe.
Both platforms, which have joined forces under the name “Everoad by sennder”, connect large companies with small trucking firms, making it possible to have a diversified fleet to deliver their products.
While the Covid-19 pandemic hurt the logistics industry’s profitability, sennder CEO and co-founder, David Nothacker, said the combination will help the merged firm save money. “We can jointly invest resources and knowhow to tackle the new challenges and opportunities emerging out of the crisis,” he stated.
The two sides cannot disclose the cost of the acquisition, according to a spokesperson. However, Maxime Legardez, CEO and founder of Everoad said “Our objective is to create a European industry champion within the freight forwarding and logistics industry.”
Since founding, together Berlin-based sennder and Paris-based Everoad have raised over €120 million (US$135 million) from leading investors including Accel and Lakestar to consolidate the trucking market.
“Sennder realised that it needs to do something in France, which is an ‘important but difficult market,’ if it wants to achieve its turnover goal,” a spokeswoman told Container News.
With the road freight market valued at nearly €400 billion (US$450 billion) in Europe, the combined company aims to achieve revenues of €1 billion (US$1.13 billion) by 2024.
Legardez argued that the new alliance “can contribute to reducing the environmental impact of the industry.” While the trucking sector is responsible for 6% of the European Union’s total CO2 emissions, the digital freight forwarders stated that they will start with the reduction of “empty miles” (20% of kilometres travelled).
The new strategic alliance has offices in six European countries, Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy, Latvia and France, while it completes over 35,000 loads per month. The newly formed “Everoad by sennder” now has a team of 350 people and a network of 10,000 carrier partners and enterprise customers.
Antonis Karamalegkos
Editor
