Austrian AI startup Digicust raises €2.3M to automate customs clearance across Europe

Customs clearance remains one of the least modernized layers of global trade. Paperwork still dominates. Emails, scanned invoices, and inconsistent formats slow shipments and increase risk. Digicust wants to change that.

The Vienna-based AI startup has raised a €2.3 million pre-Series A round to scale its AI platform for end-to-end customs automation. The round includes backing from Czech investors Jet Investment and Look AI Ventures, with participation from private investors and support from Austria Wirtschaftsservice programs. The funding provides fresh capital as European customs authorities deepen their use of digital systems and raise compliance standards.

Founded in 2020 and headquartered at Vienna International Airport, Digicust focuses on a part of logistics software that most vendors avoid. Customs data rarely arrives clean. Declarations depend on PDFs, scanned packing lists, email-sent invoices, and formats that vary by jurisdiction. Digicust built its platform to read, structure, and process that mess at scale.

With €2.3M funding, Digicust aims to eliminate manual customs clearance with AI

The company says its system cuts customs processing time from hours to minutes and reaches 99% accuracy when handling unstructured documents. Its software covers classification, tariff assignment, export controls, and compliance documentation in one continuous workflow. That approach turns a patchwork of manual steps into a single digital process that logistics providers and customs brokers can rely on during audits.

“Digicust is solving a huge problem that nobody even realizes many companies have: automating customs processes where the data is messy, documents are unstructured, and compliance is strict. While others focus narrowly on product classification, Digicust addresses the entire workflow, from reading scanned invoices and packing lists to integrating with customs systems and ensuring regulatory accuracy. This full-process approach, grounded in real operational pain, is what makes Digicust stand out. We believe the company is positioned to become the foundational automation layer for customs across Europe and beyond,” says Angelo Burgarello, Partner at Look AI Ventures.

Market traction suggests demand for that approach. Digicust reports more than 60 corporate customers across six European markets and has processed over 500,000 customs declarations through its platform. The company has earned TÜV SÜD’s IEEE CertifAIed certification, which signals compliance with standards for ethical and trustworthy AI use.

CEO Borisav Parmakovic frames the mission in practical terms. “Our vision is to remove inefficiencies from global supply chains and make customs clearance seamless and fully digital,” he says. The new funding supports product development and geographic expansion as shipment volumes rise across Europe.

Jet Investment led the round with a €950,000 commitment through its venture arm. Look AI Ventures participated with €250,000. The rest came from existing backers and private investors.

“Digicust sets a new standard for customs process automation in Europe. Their combination of proprietary technology and AI expertise enables customers to increase accuracy and productivity in customs declaration processing many times over,” says Kamil Levinský, Managing Director at Jet Ventures. He cites cross-border complexity as a long-term driver of the company’s growth.

As regulators tighten digital reporting requirements and supply chains stretch across more jurisdictions, customs clearance stands out as a structural bottleneck. Digicust is betting that automation built for real documents, real compliance rules, and real trade volumes will turn that bottleneck into an infrastructure bottleneck.