Berlin-based Tilla Secures €2Million Funding

Founded to modernize crew change management in commercial shipping, Tilla addresses a major industry challenge: the sector conducts around 10 million crew trips annually, costing $12 billion, yet still relies heavily on outdated, manual processes like phone calls, emails, and spreadsheets.

Tilla’s AI-powered digital platform streamlines and automates the crew change process by connecting key data sources—such as voyage schedules, crew profiles, port agency info, real-time flight updates, and travel requirements. The system covers everything from planning and flight booking to invoice handling and reporting, while integrating with existing crew management tools.

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Ship managers using Tilla report up to 24% cost savings and 40% less time spent on crew changes.

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 launch, Tilla has earned the trust of several prominent names in the maritime industry. Its customer base includes Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG, Essberger, Stödig Shipmanagement, Wilson, EXMAR, and Seatrade. To date, the platform has supported over 35,000 crew trips, is used on more than 500 vessels, and serves clients and users in ten countries worldwide.

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 was led by Motion Ventures, a global maritime VC firm that recently launched a $100 million fund dedicated to advancing maritime technology. It also saw strategic participation from EXMAR a renowned Belgian shipping company backed by 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 shared that after integrating Tilla’s platform into their operations, they were thoroughly impressed by its performance and the expertise of the team driving it.

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

The fresh capital will enable Tilla to enhance its platform, scale into international markets like APAC and the Mediterranean, and grow its global team. More than just funding, the support from Motion Ventures and EXMAR adds deep maritime expertise and global connections—strengthening Tilla’s credibility as it works to become the leading end-to-end platform for crew change management worldwide.

About Tilla

Founded in 2021, Tilla is a collaborative and transparent platform that digitizes and streamlines the traditionally manual and fragmented crew logistics process in cargo shipping, enhancing efficiency, reducing costs and improving operational visibility for ship managers and crewing teams.