In 2016, InstaFreight was a promising venture: a digital approach to a gigantic market worth €350 billion, plagued by empty runs and inefficiencies. Schäfer and his team grew rapidly in eight years – €70 million in venture capital, up to 300 employees, and nearly €100 million in revenue. But this rapid growth collided with a harsh reality: the Corona boom was over, the Russian attack on Ukraine caused the economy to collapse, customers left, while investments continued. Maximilian Schäfer, founder of InstaFreight, speaks at Pitch & People openly about a tough time:
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PITCH & PEOPLE Episode 13: Cargomotion
"We tried to chase after a business plan that was no longer realistic."
The attempt to sell the company fails in 2023, the term sheet falls through, and time is running out. Soon, something looms that seems almost unthinkable for entrepreneurs: insolvency.
The hardest moment
During this phase, Schäfer goes on a long-planned vacation, actually at the perfect time for the due diligence phase. Then everything escalates. On the morning of his birthday, he takes three hours to himself, without his phone, without work. When he returns, he finds a digital storm: messages from lawyers, investors, and birthday greetings from friends who know nothing of his nightmare. Then his mother writes to him. And shepherd collapses:
"I had a real crying fit. What is happening here? I don't deserve any of this."
Just ten minutes later, he has to go on a call with his lawyers. He turns off the camera – “bad connection” – and conducts the conversation. An emotional rollercoaster.
The crash just before Christmas
In early December 2023, the team declared emergency management, and shortly before Christmas, the insolvency petition followed. The employees were faced with existential questions: What happens next? Will I still receive my salary?
For Germany, Schäfer can at least offer some reassurance: the employment agency continues payments for three months in the event of insolvency. But at the Polish location, uncertainty reigns – no clear regulations, no guarantees. Schäfer travels there, sits down in front of the team, and tells them frankly that he cannot promise their salaries.
Then the freight carriers arrive. 50,000, 100,000 euros in outstanding debts. Men who have been in the business for decades burst into tears on the phone.
"In some cases, I was yelled at: 'How am I supposed to manage this now? You're dragging me down with you into bankruptcy.'"
Some even intend to confront Schäfer personally and collect their money. As a precaution, the office is cordoned off and the police are informed.
An encounter with Jan Marsalek
Years before Instafreight, when Schäfer was building up the logistics division of a fashion e-commerce giant for Rocket Internet in Russia, he met Jan Marsalek, then a board member of Wirecard, at a time when Wirecard was still considered a model company.
Schäfer is helping a Russian startup prepare for fundraising. But the investor meeting turns into a farce: Russian "B-list oligarchs," armed bodyguards at the board meeting, and questionable financial records. Schäfer, a young manager, is there to explain that a European VC would never invest in this company.
And Marsalek? He appears as an interested investor – at a time when his public image is still intact and he's meeting with top political figures. Schäfer experiences the meeting in a small office above a fake market on the outskirts of Moscow as an absurd moment in an already chaotic chapter of his career.
Editor's Note: Jan Marsalek, born in Vienna in 1980, was for many years one of the most important managers at the payment service provider Wirecard, rising to the position of COO. He was considered a driving force behind the company's rapid international expansion, particularly in Asia. After Wirecard's collapse in 2020, when it was revealed that €1.9 billion of supposedly existing funds did not exist, Marsalek became the focus of investigations into accounting fraud, embezzlement, and other fraudulent activities. Shortly after his dismissal, he went into hiding and has been the subject of an international arrest warrant ever since. Investigations by several media outlets indicate that he is likely in Moscow and receiving support from Russian intelligence services. Today, Marsalek is considered one of the most flamboyant and controversial figures in one of Europe's biggest financial scandals.
After the collapse: The restart
After all that: Why start a new business again? shepherd says:
"I think I can't help it. It's in my DNA."
He and his co-founder eventually bought the IP out of the insolvent InstaFreight themselves – in another competitive bidding process. And started anew: Cargomotion, an AI-based add-on for transport management systems that allows logistics service providers to automatically calculate prices and use AI bots.
It is what remains after an entrepreneurial earthquake: the technology, the will to continue, and the realization that failure, while painful, can also be the beginning of something new.
