Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) have advised Northzone as the lead investor on FreightHub’s series A financing round. The Berlin start-up raised US$20m making it the largest series A financing round for a logistics start-up in Europe to date.

FreightHub, a freight forwarding company, was launched 18 months ago by Ferry Heilemann, CEO, Erik Muttersbach, CTO, and Michael Wax, CCO. Dually based in Berlin and Hamburg, the company offers a platform that provides booking and tracking services for global container (FCL) and pallet (LCL) transport via sea, air and rail. FreightHub plans to use the funding for further growth of the company and to open new hubs in Asia and the USA.

Michiel Kotting, Partner at Northzone, said: “The freight forwarding industry is one of the last to see full-scale digitalisation. With their focus on building the best digital platform to serve their customers, we believe FreightHub is in a strong position to capture the market. As with various investments before, we were pleased to work with the team from Berwin Leighton Paisner who delivered great service and supported the seamless realisation of this project.”

Northzone is a European Venture Capital fund backing entrepreneurs building tomorrow’s global companies. Currently investing out of NZVIII, a €350m fund and one of the largest early stage venture funds in Europe, Northzone has offices in London, Stockholm, New York and Oslo. Northzone is an early investor in companies such as Spotify, iZettle, Trustpilot, and Lesara.

Albrecht von Breitenbuch, BLP Partner, regularly advises Northzone on investments in Germany, including Outfittery, Lesara, Lemoncat and Personio. Albrecht has built a growing practice for technology and venture capital investors from BLP’s Berlin office, and is leading BLP’s offering in that sector in Germany. His team to support Northzone in the transaction included Counsel Katharina von Rosenstiel and Associate Christopher Bernhardt.