Logistics start-up Colonia Technologies closes EUR 6 million financing round

• Seed round is led by Octopus Ventures, with vent.io, Plug and Play, MobilityFund, Atlantic Labs, Hoyer and prominent business angels also investing.
• The company will use the fresh funding to enhance the functionality of its Europe-wide unique B2B sharing platform for commercial vehicles.
• Colonia is the AirBnB of road logistics. Through one secure marketplace logistics companies can share their commercial vehicles with each other.

Logistics startup Colonia Technologies, the first provider of a sharing platform for commercial vehicles, has closed a EUR 6 million Seed round. The financing round was led by Octopus Ventures, one of the largest and most active venture capital investors in Europe.

Logistics forms the core of the European economy, with an estimated 4.6 million trucks and trailers transporting 76% of all goods. However, inconsistent access to these vehicles presents a bottleneck, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) grappling with fluctuating orders and driver shortages. Colonia Technologies is solving this problem through its unique B2B sharing model, enabling logistics companies to share vehicles via a secure marketplace equipped with user-friendly fleet management software to operate fleets more effectively.

Co-founder Kaspar Filipp explains, “Logistics companies often lose business due to the lack of access to appropriate vehicles, while simultaneously struggling to effectively utilize their own fleets. We see that demand in the commercial vehicle sharing segment has already increased significantly in the first half of the year and expect the trend to continue.” 

Octopus Ventures is joined in the funding round by vent.io (a venture capital arm of Deutsche Leasing AG), Plug and Play, MobilityFund, Hoyer, as well as numerous angel investors, including the founders of Flixbus, Grover and Seven Senders. Existing investor Atlantic Labs is also adding further capital in the current round. The Cologne-based startup intends to utilize the investment for enhancing the platform’s features. 

Colonia has just launched a new feature that offers users additional payment security. Through an external financing partner, lessors are assured that rental payments will reach them safely and on time. Concerns about payment processing and the risk of non-payment are thus eliminated.

“We are delighted that we have once again been able to attract renowned investors. The      financing round enables us to further advance our business model and enable our      companies with their own commercial vehicle fleet to not only be more competitive, but also more sustainable," said Jakob Sadoun, co-founder at Colonia.

Nick Sando, Principal, Octopus Ventures, comments: “Access to trucks and trailers is a critical bottleneck in international logistics, while the unpredictability of demand creates huge challenges for the small businesses that operate commercial logistics fleets. Colonia’s not only solving the problem of dormant trucks and trailers but enabling fleet operators to win business across Europe. It’s creating a step change in European logistics.” 

Jakob Sadoun and Kaspar Filipp founded Colonia in May 2021. Both have spent most of their careers driving the transformation of the transportation and logistics industry, Jakob Sadoun in strategy consulting, and Kaspar Filipp in consulting and politics. The company currently employs 16 people.

About Octopus Ventures

Octopus Ventures is one of the largest and most active venture capital investors in the UK and Europe, investing in and supporting the people, ideas and industries that are changing the world. 

It has built expertise across six sectors: B2B software, climate tech, consumer tech, deep tech, fintech and health, and has backed more than 180 businesses across the UK and Europe, including successes like Zoopla, WaveOptics, Cazoo and Depop. Octopus Ventures invests in people and teams from as early as ideas on a page all the way through to the later stages of growth, providing capital, expertise, and partnership. 

Octopus Ventures manages £1.9 bn for retail and institutional investors and invests £200m each year. It is part of Octopus Group, a group of entrepreneurial businesses united by a common goal: backing the people, ideas and industries that will change the world.
Hear from Octopus Ventures experts at: www.octopusventures.com