Berlin-based fliit, a digital logistics startup that connects food shippers and carriers in Germany, has raised €10 million ($11,231,530) in a Series A round. Participants included Maersk Growth and Alstin Fund II from the Maschmeyer Group. Existing investors, including Berlin Technologie Holding, also participated in the round.
Maersk Growth is the capital venture arm of the shipping giant Maersk, the world’s largest transporter of food. The flitt round marks the latest in a series of investments Maersk has pursued in food supply chain and food waste startups.
“We are very happy about the investment by the well-established logistics provider and container ship world market leader Maersk as well as the renowned financial investor Carsten Maschmeyer,” Flavio Alario, fliit founder and managing director, told EU Startups.
Launched in 2016, fliit targets end-to-end solutions for global food producers. Its digital platform matches food companies with a network of specialized carriers. The company also offers a suite of management services.
Over the past 12 months, fliit has grown its partner network to more than 200 regular carriers. Clients include MSG Frucht, L’Osteria, Rewe, Landgard, and Hello Fresh.
The additional funds will be used to accelerate growth and help the company expand geographically, Alario said.
“We found the perfect partners to scale quickly in Europe and to create a new kind of food logistics: flexible, efficient, and customer-centric,” he said.
Jeppe Høier, Partner at Maersk Growth, said the firm “liked the focus on a special vertical, food logistics, and [we] were impressed how well the team blends year-long expertise in logistics with technology to build a great platform ready to scale across Europe, that supports our overall integrator.”
Other startups supported by Maersk include grain monitoring tech company Telesense, blockchain of food startup Ripe.io, Sensor Transport and LoadSmart. Maersk has also launched an accelerator program called FoodTrack to focus on technologies that aim to reduce food waste.