Supply chain start-up in the spotlight: Sennder

Founded in 2015, Berlin-based digital road freight forwarder Sennder GmbH connects shippers of full truck loads (FTLs) with its vast ‘virtual’ fleet of carriers to increase efficiency and reduce costs. With its software-based solution, Sennder is striving to take the currently very labour- and paper-intensive road transport industry to a new level of automation, resulting in greater transparency of the logistics supply chain. By eliminating industry-typical multiple subcontractor layers, the company enables significantly lower prices and improved customer experience for shippers, while relieving carriers of bureaucracy and fostering fleet utilization.

The solution is based on a copyrighted software platform and data-driven analysis providing instant pricing, real-time bookings, live tracking, individual reports and automated notification via API integration with the carrier and the customer’s existing systems. It consists of apps for drivers, fleet management tools for carrier managers, and logistics management solutions for transport companies. The range of services on offer spans refrigerated transport, express deliveries, special needs loads, consumer goods, e-commerce logistics, oversize/overweight loads and same-day logistics. sennder already has more than 3,000 connected vehicles, ranging from vans and sprinters to 7.5t and 40t trucks, and drives for some of Europe’s largest e-commerce companies as well as many other clients.

The company currently employs around 20 people. In July 2017, Scania Growth Capital – the corporate venture capital fund of Scania, a leading global manufacturer of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications – announced a seven-digit euro investment in Sennder. According to David Nothacker, the start-up’s co-founder and managing director, Scania’s knowledge and network will enable sennder to accelerate its growth journey towards fulfilling its ambition of offering the most customer-focused and efficient service in the sector.