German AI-powered financial operations startup Conlio has raised €6.4 mn to expand across Europe and automate document verification, invoicing and payment processes for road freight forwarders.
The funding round was led by Piton Capital, with participation from Haufe Group Ventures and two logistics-backed investors: WaVe-X, part of WALTER GROUP, and F-LOG Ventures, the venture investment arm of FIEGE. Existing investors System One, Puzzle Ventures, Booom Ventures and Yellow also participated.
- Conlio secured €6.4 mn in funding led by Piton Capital, with participation from Haufe Group Ventures, WaVe-X, F-LOG Ventures and existing investors.
- The AI platform claims to automate more than 90% of freight document checks and increase freight forwarders’ EBIT by up to 30%.
- The investment follows approximately €49.4 mn in funding raised by six other European freight technology and AI financial automation companies in 2026.
Founded in Berlin in 2023 by Dr. Claudio Consul, Conlio has raised €6.4 mn to date.
At Conlio, we are building a European software champion with the ambition to shape the future of global freight. Born out of a desire to tackle the colossal inefficiencies that plague the logistics industry, Conlio is on a mission to empower shippers, carriers, and forwarders with cutting-edge AI solutions. We’re here to transform the way freight is moved, making every decision smarter, every load more efficient, and every shipment more sustainable.
Dr. Claudio Consul, founder and CEO of Conlio
According to startup, freight contributes 12% of global GDP and a staggering 10% of global CO2 emissions. “We’re driven by the belief that technology is the key to unlocking a new era of efficiency and sustainability in logistics. This isn’t just about incremental improvements; it’s about revolutionizing an industry that’s crucial to the health of our economy and our planet”.
“We’re a team of tech enthusiasts, united by a bold vision: to leave a mark on an industry that touches every corner of the globe. We believe in the power of technology to drive real, impactful change. We’re obsessed with creating value for our customers through innovative solutions that address the massive inefficiencies in freight”, Dr. Claudio Consul noted.
Conlio uses AI to automate freight documentation and payments
Conlio operates in the European road freight market, which the company estimates is worth approximately €430 bn. Freight forwarders typically operate on thin margins, making the cost of processing documentation, settling carrier invoices and managing payments an important factor in profitability.
Each road freight shipment generates multiple documents, including consignment notes (CMRs), proofs of delivery and carrier invoices. Before paying transport providers or billing customers, freight forwarders must verify that the documentation is complete and accurate.
These checks are complicated by differences in document formats, languages, handwritten annotations and requirements that vary between customers, transport routes and countries.
A single CMR can contain as many as four dates, including when the document was issued, when goods were collected, when delivery occurred and other events during transportation.
Traditional rules-based software has struggled to handle these variations because accurate verification often depends on interpreting the context of individual shipments.
Conlio applies AI to read, interpret and verify freight documents at scale, turning unstructured information into data that can be used in automated financial workflows.
The company says its platform can automate more than 90% of freight document checks, reducing manual processing costs, identifying overpayments and accelerating customer invoicing.
According to Conlio, its technology can increase a freight forwarder’s earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) by up to 30%. For a company generating €100 mn in annual revenue, that could represent more than €1 mn in additional annual EBIT.
Conlio targets financial automation in Europe’s €430 bn freight market
Dr. Claudio Consul, founder and CEO of Conlio, said the complexity of freight operations has limited the effectiveness of conventional automation despite broader digitalisation across the industry.
Freight is one of the world’s largest industries, and digitalisation has transformed large parts of it. But the industry is full of edge cases and decisions that depend on context, which has made true end-to-end automation difficult with traditional software. AI changes that.
Dr. Claudio Consul, founder and CEO of Conlio
Consul previously worked at digital freight forwarder sennder, where he encountered the operational challenges associated with transport documentation and financial settlement.
“At sennder, I saw first-hand how much operational complexity still sits behind freight documentation, settlement and payments. With Conlio, we turn that complexity into verified data and automated financial workflows. Our long-term ambition is to change how money moves across supply chains, and verified freight documents are where this begins.”
Piton Capital investor Michael Macklin said the company’s understanding of freight operations and its technical approach were central to the investment decision.
Road freight forwarding handles huge volumes of transactions dependent on manual checks, and many people have been stumped on how to fix this.
Michael Macklin, Piton Capital investor
“What we liked most about Conlio and Claudio was that they know the problem inside out, from the perspective of their customers, while also having the technologist’s insight on how it can be done differently,” Michael Macklin said.
Macklin said Conlio’s existing integration into customers’ daily operations could support further expansion as additional participants and transaction volumes move onto the platform.
“The product is already embedded in customers’ daily operations and we believe that can build a platform with powerful network effects as more participants join and more transactions flow through it.”
