Freight transport start-up Trucksters record 30M€ revenue in 2022, a four-time increase compared to last year

Spanish road freight transport start-up Trucksters registered a record 30 million euros annual revenue in 2022, a 300% increase since 2021, and a full accomplishment of their annual targets for the year.

Since its founding in 2018, the company has been praised by investors and customers for its innovative relay model using AI and big data to modernize traditional freight transport. The company, which last year announced opening a corridor in the UK, has achieved reducing transit times by 50%, equivalent to air-transport times but at road transport cost. More importantly, the firm’s model is helping improve the lives of lorry drivers, who can sleep many more nights at home.

With an equally impressive sales annual growth of 300% in 2022, one of the company’s key success factors has been to target large-size customers with a high capacity to grow, providing quick and reliable solutions like increasing the size of their fleet to support higher demand. For example, in 2022, Trucksters managed to increase its fleet three times, overcoming important challenges such as acute driver shortage.

Luis Bardají, co-founder of Trucksters says that he is extremely satisfied and proud with the results: “even in challenging times with problems such as the diesel crisis, and the war in Ukraine, we have managed to maintain a high level of growth.”

“Our growth can be traced back to our team, its commitment and excellent performance. Hiring teams in record time, implementing cutting edge technology and consolidating complex processes for our clients whilst delivering a great service is not easy, but they made it happen,” he adds. 

Changing the lives of drivers in Europe

As well as disrupting an old-fashioned industry, Trucksters’ founders wanted to make lorry-driving a qualitative job option to people who do not want to work in this space because of the current working conditions.

As such, the company recently created a Driver Experience department entirely devoted to improving the working conditions of drivers. The objective is to help drivers spend more quality time with their families, while working on the other key objective of providing cleaner, safer and better serviced rest areas for the drivers.

Strong international growth 

A highlight of 2022 was raising a €8m extension to the company’s Series A round, bringing the round to a total of €14.3m. This new investment was clear proof of trust of current investors in the company and its future. The round was backed by Kibo Ventures, the German logistics fund Amplifier, Bonsai Partners, the German joint venture of Axel Springer & Porsche, and the funds Big Sur Ventures, Metavallon VC and The Valley VC. In addition, Sacha Michaud, co-founder of Glovo, and Juan Urdiales, co-CEO of Job & Talent, also participated in the investment.

This support has enabled Trucksters to continue its international growth by expanding the team to nearly 100 employees. The operator is currently present in 7 countries: Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Poland, UK, France and Spain.

The firm also announced the opening of its new corridor connecting the UK to continental Europe last year. The corridor is Trucksters’ first corridor outside the EU, linking Barcelona and Northern Spain to the UK in 28 – 34 hours, 50% faster than current transport times.

Award-winning company

2022 also saw the firm gaining overall recognition in prestigious awards and accolades, including: Supply Chain Awards, in the Best Smart Solution category. The awards, granted by PwC, Strategy&, and the German magazine Logistik Heute, are one of the most important logistics awards in the world. Furthermore, the company has also been granted the VR Award by the trade magazine “VerkehrsRundschau”, in the area of digitization and service providers.

First 100% electric corridor by 2023

The operator has also announced its plans to electrify long-haul transport making the company the first operator to tackle emissions of long-distance freight transport.

The firm plans to become the first operator with a 100% electric long-haul route in 2023 using electric vehicles exclusively. The company, who aims to become one of the first operators to meet the zero-emission target, will start by using several electric trucks at the beginning of 2023, and will increase the number of vehicles throughout the year. Truckster continues to work towards eliminating CO2 emissions completely.

According to Bardají “we have shown that we know how to grow and create value, but we believe we are capable of much more,” and reflects, “have we done everything we can to help drivers? Have we done everything we can to help the environment? We see millions of opportunities that we have missed in 2022 and we want to act in 2023: electrification, process improvement and more driver-centric thinking.”

Source: UK Haulier - Freight transport start-up Trucksters record 30M€ revenue in 2022, a four-time increase compared to last year