Worth its might: Portugal-based startup drives in €1.3 million to gear up for expansion across Europe

Portuguese startup Meight has raised a EUR1.3 million Seed round for its patented technology to enable truck drivers and for efficient fleet management. The round was led by Portuguese venture capital firm Faber and saw the participation of Lusiaves SGPS group, the German venture capital company Superlyst, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT Urban Mobility), and strategic business angels union including, Ryan Petersen (CEO of Flexport), the founders of Unbabel and the venture capital company Dispatch Ventures. Founded in 2018 by Luis Mendes (CEO) and Antonio Reis (CTO), the Evora-based startup has created a patent for technology to understand where energy consumption of road transport comes from, predict, and reduce it.

The technology will enable pinpointing inefficiencies at the most granular level, predict and then help the drivers to change their behaviour. It can be used on any smartphone and does not require any truck installation, or retrofit, which is a substantial effort and expense for carriers. The platform is leveraging this data to create the first road freight platform, enabling the next generation of services, where supply chain stakeholders and service providers can easily connect to.

Apart from improving operational efficiency, the technology will also allow to substantially reduce consumption and improve the environmental footprint of fleets. The funding raised will enable the platform to accelerate its expansion strategy, focusing on Germany, as well as its recruitment process, especially from software engineers, to continue the development of the data infrastructure. Luis Mendes, CEO of Meight said: “On every trip, carriers and drivers can spend less and use fewer resources.

Meight brings technology to an old industry that lacks the resources and know-how to enter the new digital age. Professional drivers will not disappear and autonomous driving is not the answer for a complex industry. Hence, we need to find alternatives to boost one of the most fascinating contributors to world trade.”

The new technology facilitates the collection of data on driving on all routes worldwide. This will allow the platform to create ideal driving standards for that vehicle, route, and driver and communicate them to the driver in real-time. Currently, Meight has already logged in 20 million kilometres and the technology can already be used in 75% of the truck brands in Europe.

The Turkish startup Yolda has also become active in the trucking race with its expansion in Germany on the back of its bridge funding last year in December.