Estonian logistics startup, Waybiller recently announced that they had raised €500.000 in funding to make transport truly paperless. Interestingly, the backing came from Norwegian angel investors Espen Getz Harstad (Outline Ventures) and Nicklas Haslestad, besides Estonia-based Thorgate Ventures and Vestman Energia.
In addition to half a million in funding, Waybiller has also maintained close ties to the Norwegian market with the €326,000 Green ICT grant received in 2020.
Waybiller is among the few startups closely connected to the Estonian and Norwegian markets, an optimal combination, given the two countries shared nordic values. While Norway stands to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world with an offshore oil and gas drilling industry, and Estonia is one of the world’s most digitally enabled nations, offering a unique combination of talent, environment and innovation – startups like Waybiller are a great medium to digitalise traditional industries in both countries (e.g. logistics, forestry and manufacturing)
From the outset, being a Norwegian investor, Espen Getz Harstad has found the Estonian tech industry a great opportunity. He explained that he saw Waybiller as an intelligent investment because “not only is this a huge industry ripe for proper digitisation, but the efficiency and security provided to the whole supply chain by a solution like Waybiller is very exciting.”
In addition, the chairman of the Thorgate group, Raido Pikkar, also pointed out that “Waybiller is 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 optimise transportation costs” he further explained, “No doubt, Waybiller saw a great first response in the Norwegian market, which is already highly digitally competent, eager to invest in digitalisation and has an ‘open-door’-culture much like Estonia.”
“Waybiller is an ideal investment that can help reduce CO2 emissions and increase efficiency in the logistics industry.”
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 to e-waybills. Waybiller has been built with specialists from the largest Estonian road construction companies (e.g. Nordecon) and wheat growers (e.g. KEVILI). The Road Administration of Estonia also supports it.
Waybiller CEO, Ivar Merilo, explains 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 the increased overall efficiency of logistics, resulting in increased economic competitiveness.
Most recently, Merilo says, “Waybiller has also been helping with automating quarry operations, developing integrations with harbours, and automation for freight shippers. With its different functionalities, Waybiller can 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.
