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19. September 2020The digital road freight forwarder sennder is gearing up for its next move by acquiring the European freight business from Uber Freight. As part of the transaction, Uber Freight will receive a minority stake in sennder. The joint operations will continue under the name sennder.
(Berlin) sennder, Europe’s leading digital freight forwarder in road transport, announced today the acquisition of the European freight business from Uber Freight as part of a stock transaction. Both companies are pooling their expertise to further advance and revolutionize digital freight transport in Europe, the USA, and Canada. As part of the transaction, Uber Freight will receive a minority stake in sennder and will operate in Europe under the name sennder. The acquisition underscores sennder’s continuous and successful consolidation of the trucking market and signifies further geographical expansion into the Netherlands with a local presence in Amsterdam.
The acquisition of Uber Freight marks sennder’s second major transaction this year. In June 2020, sennder merged with the French counterpart Everoad and established a joint venture with Poste Italiane, Italy’s largest logistics company. Uber Freight’s European General Manager, Tom Christenson, will be appointed as sennder’s Chief Operating Officer, and Daniel Warner, currently Head of Shipper Operations at Uber Freight, will support the sennder team as Senior Vice President Commercial. The Uber Freight team, based in Amsterdam, will become part of sennder after the transaction is completed.
Strategic Partnership
As part of the acquisition, sennder and Uber Freight are forming a strategic partnership focused on the joint development of commercial and technological solutions for the USA, Canada, and Europe. Carriers and logistics companies in these markets will benefit from sennder’s outstanding services, efficiency, and advanced technology. The core of the partnership is the carrier brokerage program. sennder can connect carriers in North America looking for freight brokerage with Uber Freight, and vice versa for Uber Freight in Europe.
The acquisition further strengthens sennder’s position as the largest digital freight forwarder in Europe and strategically expands the service offering in all key markets. Through the acquisition, Uber Freight can significantly enhance its European footprint while focusing on growth and investments in the Uber Freight business in the USA and Canada.
Fast and Effective Growth
Since its founding in 2015, the Berlin-based company sennder has raised over 120 million euros in capital from leading investors such as Accel and Lakestar, successfully demonstrating its ability to grow quickly and effectively. After the transaction is completed, sennder will operate in seven countries with a team of 500 employees and move more than 50,000 shipments across Europe each month. sennder remains optimistic about continuous growth in the nearly 400 billion euro European road freight market.
sennder’s proprietary digital freight forwarding platform connects large commercial shippers with small freight companies. This digital solution reduces inefficiencies in the shipping process, thereby lowering costs for shippers, increasing revenues for carriers, and reducing CO2 emissions across the logistics sector.
David Nothacker, CEO and Co-Founder of sennder, says: “We are very proud to be number one in European digital road freight transport. As a leading digital freight forwarder, we move more than 50,000 trucks in 31 countries every month. The acquisition of Uber Freight solidifies our leading position. We are very much looking forward to working with Uber Freight and providing our customers with even better services and additional value in the future.”
Lior Ron, head of Uber Freight, comments: “We are proud of the incredible growth and success that our Uber Freight team has achieved in Europe. The strategic partnership with sennder allows us to further expand our reach in Europe while doubling our Uber Freight business in North America and jointly advancing the digital freight industry.”
About Uber Freight
Uber Freight is a logistics platform built on the power of Uber, aiming to reshape global logistics and provide shippers and carriers with reliability, flexibility, and transparency. Since its launch in 2017, Uber Freight has built one of the world’s largest digitally-enabled carrier networks and changed established practices regarding pricing and freight booking to reduce inefficiencies and improve opportunities for business growth and industry collaboration.
Today, the company counts nearly 60,000 carriers in its network and thousands of shippers among its customers, ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, including AB Inbev, Nestle, LG, Land O’Lakes, and many others.
Photo: © sennder / Image Caption: Pleased with another coup, the sennder team: Julius Koehler, Nicolaus Schefenacker, David Nothacker (l. to r.).
