Speedinvest and Norrsken VC join seed round in German last mile shipping platform  

Munster, Germany: Liefergrün, the sustainable last mile shipping platform, has closed a €3 million seed round led by Speedinvest.

Liefergrün will use the investment to grow its team, expand its platform and begin preparations for rolling its service across major European cities including London, Paris and Madrid. Norrsken VC also contributed to the round.

Liefergrün, which is currently present in 30 cities across Germany, uses a fleet of cargo bikes and electric vehicles based at scores of micro distribution hubs to enable emission-free delivery of goods bought online to consumers.

By tackling the emission-heavy last mile of delivery, Liefergrün estimates that it prevents the release of 420 grams of CO2 per delivery. For context, there were 4.05 billion online deliveries in Germany alone in 2021, producing 2.43 million tonnes of CO2 or 600 grams per delivery. If Liefergrün’s sustainable approach was applied across Germany it would more than halve package delivery emissions by 1.7 million tonnes of CO2  – the equivalent of taking nearly 370,000 cars off the road each year. With online deliveries in Germany set to hit 5.7 billion by 2025 Liefergrün believes action needs to be taken now to reduce the environmental impact and enable guilt-free online shopping to continue.

Niklas Tauch, CEO and Co-Founder of Liefergrün, said: “Ecommerce has exploded over the past two years. More than 75% of Germans regularly buy products online. However, this convenience comes at a price – it’s creating a huge amount of emissions that people are rightly getting very concerned about. Simply telling people to buy less isn’t going to solve the problem. What we need to do is make ecommerce sustainable. A major part of that is tackling the last mile of delivery.

“Liefergrün is about creating a global green solution to delivery which doesn’t compromise on the quality of service to customers. This funding is an important step in our journey. It will enable us to consolidate our position in Germany and expand to other major European cities.”

Liefergrün, whose major clients include Adidas, Dyson and Every, provide a range of services including two hour and next day delivery which customers can track in real time using an app.

As well as aiming to make delivery logistics emission-free, Liefergrün is also committed to providing excellent working conditions to its staff and suppliers by paying a living wage and having strict sustainability.

Mathias Ockenfels, General Partner at Speedinvest, said: “Many cities across the world are facing the same challenge of getting a grip on the flood of deliveries that reduce air quality and make a big contribution to climate change. You only need to see how rapidly Liefergrün has grown to see just how attractive its offering is to consumers and businesses alike. It is already a big player in the 30 largest cities in Germany and we’re very excited about Liefergrün’s potential to expand across Europe.”

Fabian Erici, Investment Manager at Norrsken VC, said: “Inner-city congestion is a serious problem. It creates even more pollution, which in turn creates health issues, and increases the burden on already stretched healthcare systems. The booming e-commerce market is further escalating the problem of congestion, as last mile delivery is still mainly completed by fossil-fuel powered trucks.  Both consumers and businesses are realising how inefficient this is, and are demanding alternatives. We are happy to join Liefergrün’s mission to decarbonize our cities through green last mile delivery.”