Tilla raises €2M to accelerate global growth of crew logistics platform

Berlin-based maritime tech startup, Tilla, has closed a €2 million funding round designed to accelerate the global expansion and innovation of its crew logistics platform. The new round brings Tilla’s total funding to €4 million since its founding in 2021.

Established in 2021, Tilla set out to bring digital transformation to crew change management in commercial shipping.

Each year, the shipping industry carries out around 10 million crew trips, incurring costs of approximately $12 billion. Despite the scale, crew change processes remain largely manual and fragmented, relying on calls, emails, and spreadsheets, which leads to inefficiencies, errors, and inflated costs. 

To solve this, Tilla has developed a digital, AI-powered platform that streamlines and optimises the entire crew change process. It enables crewing teams to plan, monitor, and continuously improve operations by integrating all critical data sources, including voyage schedules, crew information, port agency data, real-time flight updates, and travel requirements. The platform supports every stage, from planning and automated flight management to invoice processing and reporting, and integrates seamlessly with existing crew management systems. 

By using Tilla, ship managers can reduce crew change costs by up to 24 per cent and cut time spent by as much as 40 per cent.

Niklas Weidmann, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Tilla, shared: 

Our ambition is to become the global market leader and ultimately optimise every step of every crew change, everywhere in the world. The funding will help us get there. We’re very proud to have secured two such complementary and renowned investors. Their deep expertise and their global maritime networks are extremely valuable to us. They’ll enable us to scale faster and sustainably, grow our team, strengthen our market position, and expand into new regions.

Since its start, Tilla has gained the trust of many well-known players in the sector. Among its customers are Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG, Essberger, Stödig Shipmanagement, Wilson, EXMAR, and Seatrade. Tilla has already facilitated over 35,000 crew trips, is deployed on over 500 vessels, and serves clients and users operating in ten countries across the globe.

Narayan Venkatesh, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Tilla, adds: 

This funding comes at a pivotal moment for Tilla as we see growing demand for digitised crew logistics. We are a technology startup at heart with a deep understanding of the crew logistics domain. After four years of building and creating value for our customers in Europe, we have a proven approach.

Now, with Motion Ventures and EXMAR as partners who understand both the technology and industry landscape, we can accelerate our global value delivery and  expand the platform with new AI-powered planning features, comprehensive financial capabilities and much more.

The round is led by Motion Ventures, a global maritime venture capital firm that recently launched a $100 million fund focused on maritime technology. It also includes a strategic investment from EXMAR, a well-established Belgian shipping company with deep roots in the Saverys family legacy.

Anders Vartdal, Senior Investment Associate at Motion Ventures, says: 

Crew logistics is often an untouched cost line in maritime operations. Tilla’s early traction shows the appetite for solutions that can drive both savings and speed with simplicity. What stood out was how fast the team converted pilots into paying customers, that kind of execution speaks volumes. Niklas and Narayan are building for the industry, with the industry.

Ariane Saverys, Deputy COO at EXMAR, noted that after incorporating Tilla’s platform into their operations, they were highly impressed by both the platform’s effectiveness and the capabilities of the team behind it:

Investing in Tilla reflects our confidence in their future and the value they bring to maritime crew logistics worldwide.

The new funding will allow Tilla to strengthen its platform, expand into international markets such as APAC and the Mediterranean, and accelerate the growth of its global team. Beyond capital, the backing from Motion Ventures and EXMAR brings valuable maritime expertise and extensive global networks, boosting Tilla’s credibility and reinforcing its position as it strives to become the world’s leading end-to-end platform for crew change management.

Lead image: Tilla co-founders  | Photo: Uncredited