Dublin-based start-up Axe has raised €1.5m in a pre-seed funding round to bring its artificial intelligence-powered logistics to supply chain networks.
The round was led by early-stage venture capital Pitchdrive, with participation from Enterprise Ireland, Accel Scouts and angel investors Colm Long and Colm Lyons.
Axe builds autonomous AI agents that handle tasks such as order entry, quoting, scheduling and phone calls. According to the start-up, AI automation gives back freight brokers and carriers more than four hours every day, which can then be applied to other more vital day-to-day tasks.
“We’re building AI agents that don’t just save time, they fundamentally change how logistics teams operate,” said James McElroy, the co-founder and CEO of Axe.
“This funding helps us accelerate toward a future where teams no longer waste hours on manual admin, and can instead focus on strategy, service and scale.
“We’re already saving teams over four hours a day and significantly increasing their profitability.”
The fresh capital will be used to accelerate product development, scale the engineering and customer success teams, and support Axe’s expansion into the US, the start-up said.
The company currently operates in Dublin and London and has plans to open its first US office later this year.
“We backed Axe because they’re tackling one of the most painful and outdated workflows in a $10tn industry – with a team that knows how to ship fast, build real AI and sell into logistics,” said Pitchdrive co-founder Koen Christiaens.
“James and Dan have done this before, and they’re building exactly what freight teams have been crying out for – AI agents that actually get things done.”
Axe was founded in 2024 by McElroy and Dan Quill – the company’s chief technology officer. Both the founders have previously held senior positions at start-ups.
McElroy co-founded pet services marketplace Gudog, which was acquired by Blackstone earlier this year, while Quill was the founding CTO at Peblo, which was acquired by Irish unicorn Wayflyer in 2022.
Axe is exhibiting at Multimodal on stand F4
