node.vc leads investment in Bahn Express
Helsinki-based Bahn Express is building the platform that Europe's used-car logistics market has been missing — fast, cost-efficient, and digital. node.vc led the €5M seed round alongside existing investors and angels from Wolt and the broader Finnish ecosystem.
We're excited to announce our investment in Bahn Express — a Helsinki-based team building a fast, cost-efficient, and reliable platform for cross-border car logistics in Europe. node.vc led the €5M seed round, joined by existing investors Trind VC and Innovestor, as well as angels from Wolt and other strategically relevant profiles from the Finnish ecosystem.
Europe's used-car logistics market is worth an estimated €7 billion — and it's still largely running on outdated infrastructure. Used-car dealers today typically wait 14 to 17 days for cross-border deliveries, relying on fragmented trucking providers with little visibility or reliability. Bahn Express cuts that to 2–4 days, using a gig-driver model with real-time tracking, automated workflows, and built-in insurance. Faster, more predictable delivery means dealers turn inventory quicker and deploy capital more efficiently — Bahn's own data shows dealers can move significantly more cars per unit of time with the same capital base.
The traction speaks for itself. Bahn Express scaled from zero to €6.5M in marketplace revenue within 18 months — 15x year-on-year growth with 500+ drivers onboarded across five countries. That kind of momentum in a market this fragmented is a strong signal of product-market fit.
What drew us equally to the business model is the team. Matias Blomberg, Leevi Jäkälä, and Sakari Vanhanen have built a company of 19 people, launched across four countries within a year, and done it with a discipline and focus that's rare at this stage. They have a clear country-by-country expansion playbook — drawing on the Wolt and Bolt early-expansion experience, with seasoned operators from those companies actively advising — and have shown they can execute it. The funds from this round will be deployed to accelerate that expansion into new European markets.
"Having followed the Bahn Express team for over a year, it's clear that their combination of discipline, speed, and customer focus is turning into exceptional execution. Their platform tackles a large bottleneck in European vehicle logistics and is set up to scale faster than the competition. When you meet the team in Helsinki, you really sense a team gearing up for its next phase of growth. We're confident this is just the start," says Daniela Sjunnesson, Partner at node.vc.
We've followed Bahn Express since pre-seed and the conviction has only grown with each milestone. We're proud to lead this round and to back the team as they build what could become the infrastructure layer for pan-European vehicle logistics.
Read more
Full press release via Tech Funding News
About Bahn Express
Founded in Helsinki, Bahn Express is a platform for fast, cost-efficient cross-border car logistics in Europe. Using a gig-driver model with real-time tracking, automated workflows, and built-in insurance, the company reduces delivery times from up to 17 days to 2–4 days. The company's long-term vision is to unify Europe's used-car logistics market under one platform.
Links