When working in an SME, Pol Ximeno encountered logistical operational problems that hindered the company's functioning, and he confirmed that he was not alone: contact with multiple transport companies to compare prices and manage each shipment independently represents a daily burden for many SMEs. In this context, Ximeno set out to build a technological solution to gain operational efficiency. Ximeno's project has materialized in the startup Nub Freight, a platform that integrates the main transport companies and allows comparing shipping prices, contracting them, tracking, controlling costs, and centralizing all operations in a single space.
"We are a kind of Booking for transport for industrial SMEs," explains Ximeno. To achieve this, the platform integrates into the software of transport companies and extracts data that is subsequently shared with the industrial SME that needs to contract logistics services.
"Ultimately, what we offer is time and facilitating daily operations for SMEs. Companies work with several transport companies, and we integrate with them," summarizes the founder of the startup Nub Freight, which operates from the Logistics 4.0 incubator of the Consorcio de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB). Thus, "instead of having several communication lines and several screens open with each carrier, you have a single platform that centralizes everything."
In addition to comparing prices, contracting shipments, and tracking them jointly, the platform allows extracting unified reports and also sharing them with clients. "In a single space, everything that happens in terms of logistics in a company is made visible," Ximeno defends. And Nub Freight, which was incorporated as a company in April, goes further: it also allows auditing invoices, verifying that the contracted kilos and volumes match those invoiced. Thus, the platform "allows saving costs in various phases of operations."
Nub Freight, which started having clients in the summer and is already invoicing, aims to triple its client base this year and exceed one hundred. To do this, it will continue to integrate transport companies into its platform as clients demand them, taking into account that "there are ten companies that distribute 80% of the total market in Spain."
The company, which in December was a finalist for best startup in the CEL Awards for Logistics Excellence, focuses on its growth nestled in a Barcelona ecosystem that "provides many opportunities", according to Ximeno: "It facilitates attracting talent and is well connected with Europe and the rest of the world."
Within this Barcelona ecosystem, Nub Freight grows from the CZFB's Logistics 4.0 incubator, which aims to promote innovation and technology in the logistics value chain, with projects ranging from automated warehouses to last-mile deliveries, using technologies such as Big Data, 3D printing, and robotics.
"Being within Logistics gives us the opportunity to be in contact with this ecosystem," highlights Ximeno, who values the possibility of "seeing new trends and opportunities, and collaborating and creating synergies with other actors in the sector," called to transform it and move towards the logistics of the future.