Fernride, a startup developing autonomous trucking solutions for logistics hubs, has raised an €18m extension round to expand its technology for use in defence applications.
As the defence tech industry surges following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European deeptech founders are increasingly looking for ways to adapt their technology for military or government purposes.
According to data from Dealroom and the NATO Innovation Fund, investment in security and resilience tech reached a record high of $5.2bn in 2024.
The extension was backed by Helantic, with participation from investors such as Thomas Müller, former CEO of defence and aerospace electronics company Hensoldt, alongside existing investors DTCF and 10X Founders.
Fernride cofounder and CEO Hendrik Kramer says the defence industry was an obvious next step for his company’s technology.
“One sector that is often overlooked in defence is logistics. Everyone speaks about drones in the air or huge systems like fighter jets or battle tanks, but we’re excited about building the backbone and infrastructure for all of that,” he says. “Nothing works when you don’t have logistics supplying ammunition, food or water to the front line.”
Founded in 2019 as a spin-off from The Technical University of Munich, Fernride’s technology updates existing fleets with sensors, cameras and software to drive autonomously, assisted remotely by humans.
The company’s technology is already used at container terminals; its first major customer was port and logistics company HHLA. Other customers like automaker Volkswagen and logistics and supply chain company DB Schenker use the tech for trucks in distribution centres or manufacturing facilities.
In July this year, Fernride became the first in Europe to receive certification from TÜV SÜD to begin driverless operations across the EU without a safety driver onboard.
That means the technology could now be applied to trucks driving goods and ammunition to armies in combat areas, without a human behind the wheel, freeing up personnel from “mundane tasks” like driving from A to B and keeping humans not needed on the battlefield safe.
“It’s very dangerous when you’re in the kill zone, where large trucks are an easy target for drones since every enemy knows that when you eliminate the supply, no one can fight anymore,” says Kramer.
Fernride says its main priorities are scaling its container terminals business across Europe, while launching defence products simultaneously, objectives Kramer acknowledges will take time.
“What we intend to do is build the leading tech platform for automating any ground use case, so you could basically automate any vehicle in any situation. But you can’t boil the ocean right away,” he says.” You need a very structured to go market approach.”
Since its founding, Fernride has raised €75m and employs 150 people in Germany.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/fernride-raises-18m/
