Backed by ex-DHL and Maersk execs, 5U AI raises $3.2M to tackle freight forwarding with AI — TFN

• 5U AI has secured $3.2 million in pre-seed funding, with Emerge Capital main the spherical.
• The corporate’s AI Staff assist freight forwarders with quoting, reserving, and monitoring shipments.
• 5U AI is already working with TCI Worldwide Logistics on each air and ocean freight.

Cargo delays usually occur as a result of essential data is buried in emails, missed in spreadsheets, or not written down in any respect. 5U AI goals to resolve this downside and has raised $3.2 million in pre-seed funding to develop its resolution.

Emerge Capital, which led this funding spherical, is normally identified for investing in future-of-work and training startups. The spherical additionally included senior executives from DHL, GEODIS, DSV, Maersk, and Ceva Logistics. That is 5U AI’s first public funding spherical.

“Freight forwarding is filled with choices nonetheless trapped in inboxes, spreadsheets, and folks’s heads,” says Yagiz Abik, chief govt and co-founder of 5U AI.

The Munich-based startup creates AI Staff that may quote, e-book, observe, and reconcile invoices for air, sea, and highway freight. These AI Staff report the explanations behind every choice so groups can use that information sooner or later.

“We’re not constructing one other chatbot that solutions questions and disappears. We’re constructing AI Staff that perceive freight operations, perform the work, and seize the reasoning behind each choice. This lets groups scale their information in addition to their capability,” Abik explains.

An business nonetheless depending on e mail and guide work

The worldwide freight forwarding market could reach $235 billion by 2026, rising greater than 5% every year. The marketplace for freight forwarding software program is smaller however anticipated to develop from about $530 million to over $1.7 billion by 2035.

Many firms within the business nonetheless use e mail and spreadsheets, managed by skilled employees. To date, common AI and older automation instruments haven’t made a lot distinction on this space.

5U AI was based in 2025 by Abik and Fehmi Şener, who each graduated from the Technical College of Munich. Şener has a background in cloud methods and full-stack growth.

As a substitute of changing a forwarder’s present methods, the startup provides AI Staff to them. It additionally makes use of a Context Layer to trace how every choice is made, so groups can see what was carried out, why, and the best way to enhance sooner or later.

A aggressive market with a novel method

5U AI is a part of a aggressive area. In London, Nexcade, began by former Sedna COO Dan Bailey and a former Palantir engineer, raised $6 million to construct AI brokers that assist draft quotes and course of cargo orders for shoppers like XPO and Zencargo. In Barcelona, Opereit raised $2.5 million to assist with losses that occur after shipments are in transit.

5U AI stands out by constructing a reasoning layer that retains observe of firm information, ensuring choices are saved and simple to seek out for future AI Staff and new staff members.

The cash will go towards product growth, increasing in Europe, and hiring for product, engineering, operations, business, and buyer groups. The corporate already works with forwarders and carriers throughout Europe, together with TCI Worldwide Logistics.

“AI is likely one of the most fun developments logistics has seen for a technology, however its worth will rely upon individuals who perceive the business and wish to construct sensible instruments that clear up actual operational issues. We’re actively in search of individuals who wish to be part of us at this early stage and assist form the subsequent chapter of freight forwarding,” Abik says.

Freight forwarding has many exceptions which are onerous to automate as a result of there’s not sufficient documentation. Whether or not 5U AI’s AI Staff can deal with these complicated conditions, and never simply routine duties, will rely upon how prospects use the product sooner or later.