Estonian logistics startup Waybiller announced today that they have raised €500k in funding to make transport truly paperless. This backing comes from Estonian based Thorgate Ventures and Vestman Energia alongside Norwegian angel investors Espen Harstad and Nicklas Haslestad.
Founded in 2019 by a team with a strong logistics industry background, Waybiller is an e-waybill software that allows companies to transform from paper waybills to e-waybills (wyabills are documents prepared by the carrier of a shipment of goods that contain details of the shipment, route, and charges). Waybiller has been built together with the specialists from the largest Estonian road construction companies (e.g. Nordecon) and wheat growers (e.g. KEVILI). It is also supported by the Road Administration of Estonia.
Waybiller CEO, Ivar Merilo, explained that “Waybiller can help logistics companies lower handling costs by up to four times”. By moving to an electronic format, the three parties involved in each shipment (shipper, carrier, receiver) benefit from increased overall efficiency of logistics, resulting in increased economic competitiveness.
Most recently, Merilo said: “Waybiller has been also helping with automating quarry operations, developing integrations with harbours, and automations for freight shippers. With its different functionalities Waybiller is able to help replace manual labour with smart software to reduce administration costs for logistics companies”.
Waybiller’s clients include TREV-2, Eesti Killustik, Nordecon, YIT, Ruu Kivi, Kunda Nordic Tsement, KEVILI, Baltic Agro, PK Oliver and nearly 4000 other companies in Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Norway.
Chairman of the Thorgate Group, Raido Pikkar, described this a “strategic” investment as Waybiller is a spin-off from the Thorgate group itself. Pikkar envisions that “Waybiller is a highly scalable product, which was much-needed for the logistics industry to be more sustainable and digitised in the region.”
Pikkar went on to comment that “the vision at the Thorgate group is to change the world with technology. We find Waybiller as an ideal investment that can help reduce CO2 emissions and increase efficiency in the logistics industry. The company’s long-term goal is to make freight transport paperless and automate processes within warehouses, quarries, and production plants to optimize transportation costs”.
In addition to half a million in funding, Waybiller has also been able to maintain close ties to the Norwegian market with an €326K Green ICT grant received in 2020.
