Shell and digital freight forwarding company InstaFreight are partnering to transform the European freight market. After successfully raising an investment from Shell’s corporate venturing arm, Shell Ventures, InstaFreight will be working together with Shell to expand their digital services to carrier companies in Europe. This investment and new partnership will help InstaFreight to accelerate its mission to digitalize the road freight space and transform the freight market.

InstaFreight is the next generation freight forwarding company for road freight in Europe. The company excels by making use of digitalization to optimize processes and increase information transparency. The company thereby simplifies the freight forwarding business and focuses on providing practical benefits to shippers and carriers. Contrary to the still largely analogue processes and communication channels found in the freight forwarding industry, InstaFreight offers their commercial customers a digital experience that allows for a fast and convenient booking of transports. At the same time, they enhance transparency via track & trace and make logistics more efficient for both shippers and carriers. Through the digitalization of the forwarding business, the Berlin-based company can provide operational visibility and data for continuous process optimization and offer fleet carriers a convenient way to receive the right business, track their vehicles as they transport goods around Europe, and get paid fast and reliably.
“The freight forwarding industry is already undergoing substantial disruption with digital models becoming more and more successful. We are very proud to have gained such a strong global player as Shell as our investor and partner. With the additional funds, we will continue our rapid growth, further improve our technology and make our services available to more shippers and carriers across Europe,” says Philipp Ortwein, Co-Founder and Managing Director of InstaFreight.
With its global fuel card, Shell gives its carriers instant and ongoing access to a range of outstanding fuels, mobility products and business services across the world’s largest fuel retail network. The company aims to build a relationship with its customers by learning about their fleet management problems and then providing solutions for issues related to safety, maintenance, and fuel consumption using telematics, mobility services, and others.
“Our carriers who use the Shell fuel card are facing increasing expectations by their customers regarding digital capabilities. At the same time they are operating in a market with tight margins. By partnering with InstaFreight, we can help provide our carriers to optimize their utilization, increase their profitability and give them the real-time transparency their customers expect,” says Parminder Kohli, General Manager Business Development Shell Fleet Solutions.
Jermaine Saaltink, Venture Principal at Shell Ventures adds: “We invest in start-ups with technologies and business models that have a potential to disrupt markets and provide better solutions for customers. We have been impressed by InstaFreight’s management team and the traction the company has achieved in the market in a short amount of time. We look forward to working together with them and be part of their continued success.”
Thus, the cooperation goes beyond a mere investment. InstaFreight and Shell will work closely together to develop the best possible service for their customers. It offers both partners the opportunity to work together to develop new mobility solutions and services as well as to enhance and scale existing transport solutions. As such, Shell and InstaFreight plan to make use of the synergies and foster growth of freight brokerage across international markets.