Breda-based logistics startup Synple has raised 1.1 million euros from Mainport Innovation II and Newion. The capital raised will be used to add more customers to the company’s platform, hire staff and ramp up for international expansion in 2018.
Synple is developed on the premise that collaboration in the road transport industry is key to improving efficiency, increasing profitability and reducing CO2 emissions. The startup started testing its concept in collaboration with Dinalog, Connekt and TNO in 2015 and launched the platform to the public earlier this year.
The core of the Synple platform forms the Synple Match-Maker. An Uber-esk freight capacity marketplace where available freight capacity is matched to freight demand between transportation companies. Capitalising on the fact that 25 % of the trucks on the Dutch highways is empty and that locally this number is even higher. Synple offers companies the possibility to save costs on not only capacity. It claims to deliver a reduction of up to 15 % on the kilometers driven. The startup offers integrations to transportation management systems so companies can plug and play.
By doing so Synple replaces inefficiencies in the current, often offline, exchange of capacity and demand. In a way that doesn’t require much adjustments from customers in their day-to-day operations. For Thijs Gitmans, fund manager at MIF II, this was one of the main reasons to invest in Synple he says to StartupJuncture. Gitmans: “Synple is an example of product-market-founder-fit. A very strong technical team that has developed an easy and simple to use solution for a market where there is lot of room for improvement. I am therefore convinced that Synple will realise a real impact on empty runs.”
Roderick Rodenburg who founded Synple together with Michael Resink says there is a lot of demand for Synple platform based on inbound requests the company has received from the national and international transportation sector. “Our aim to accelerate fast and serve Europe in the coming years. MIF II and Newion will enable us do just that”, says Rodenburg.
For Newion the argument for investing has been the technological backbone of the Synple platform and its capacity to scale. “In the past, Synple has independently invested in impressive technology that enables strong scaling up”, says Frank Claassen, managing partner of Newion. Adding: “We believe that our investment will help Synple to continue to grow and to scale up even faster.”
Synple is the first investment made through Newion III. A new fund of 60 million that is set to grow to 85 million next year. Newion previously co-invested in Collibra ($50M) Instant Magazine (€750k), The Next Ad (€1.5M) among others.
MIF II is an 18 million fund with a specific focus on the transportation industry. Having KLM Airlines, Schiphol Group, Delft University of Technology, Port of Amsterdam and the NS Dutch Railways as its limited partners. The fund previously invested in W4Sea, ViriCiti and Mobian Global.
Photo by Nigel Tadyanehondo on Unsplash