Helsinki-based Bahn Express has raised €5 million in a funding round led by node.vc, with participation from existing backers Trind VC and Innovestor, alongside a group of angel investors including Wolt CPO Vincent Ho-Tin-Noe. Founded in 2024, Bahn Express operates a digital automotive logistics platform that connects car dealerships, rental firms, and leasing companies with a network of freelance drivers, cutting vehicle transport times across Europe from weeks to just a few days. The fresh capital will be used to scale operations across key EU markets such as Germany, Denmark, Poland, and Sweden, build local market teams, and expand product and engineering capabilities from its Helsinki headquarters as the company positions itself as a faster alternative to traditional truck-based car transport.
Co-founded by Matias Blomberg and Leevi Jäkälä in 2024, Bahn Express is building a digital alternative to traditional truck-based car transport. Its platform connects car dealerships, rental agencies, and leasing companies with a network of freelance drivers who move vehicles directly to their destination, bypassing the hub-based logistics model commonly used in the industry. By dispatching cars immediately rather than waiting for full truckloads, the company aims to reduce transport times from the typical 10–30 days to just 2–5 days.
“The automotive industry is one of the most high-tech and archaic industries at the same time. While innovation in manufacturing is booming, the processes for getting cars to customers haven’t changed much in decades, with cars still being shipped across Europe on trucks. With this investment round, we can rapidly scale our innovative solution to European markets, where we know the demand for more seamless processes is high,” says Matias Blomberg, Co-Founder and CEO of Bahn Express.
The company says delays in vehicle transportation create significant financial strain for automotive operators, as inventory remains idle while depreciation and financing costs continue to accrue. Bahn Express positions its service as a way to shorten turnaround times, improve fleet utilisation, and reduce risk for dealerships and fleet managers, while giving customers faster access to vehicles.
“Having followed the Bahn Express team for over a year, it’s clear that their combination of discipline, speed, and customer focus is turning into exceptional execution. Their platform tackles a large bottleneck in European vehicle logistics and is set up to scale faster than the competition. When you meet the team in Helsinki, you really sense a team gearing up for its next phase of growth. We’re confident this is just the start,” says Daniela Sjunnesson, Partner at node.vc.
The newly raised capital will be used to establish and scale local teams in several European markets, starting with Germany, Denmark, and Poland, with further expansion planned in Sweden and additional EU countries. Bahn Express also plans to grow its Helsinki-based headquarters, hiring across product, engineering, and operations to support an increasing volume of cross-border vehicle movements.
According to the company, the European car logistics market is valued at approximately €7 billion and remains dominated by traditional trucking operators, many of which focus primarily on domestic transport. Bahn Express is taking an international-first approach, offering both import and export capabilities alongside local transport services, and adapting its offering to different market needs, such as leasing and rental flows in Central Europe and dealership imports in the Nordics.
“Anyone expanding to new markets will get burned if they try to copy/paste their approach in one market to the next. That’s why we have hired local experts in each country, and these new funds will be used to expand those into fully operational local units that know their market and can tailor services to the needs of their customers,” Blomberg concludes.
Bahn Express currently employs around 30 people and operates from offices in Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Berlin. The company reports working with more than 100 dealerships and automotive partners across Europe, and says the funding marks the next phase in its effort to modernise vehicle logistics by replacing legacy processes with on-demand, platform-based transport.
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Read the orginal article: https://arcticstartup.com/bahn-express-raises-e5m/
