German startup Nox Mobility, which is rethinking overnight rail travel with fully private rooms, has raised €2 million in a pre-seed funding round to bring its concept to market.
- Founded in 2025 by Thibault Constant, Janek Smalla, and Artur Hasselbach, the Berlin-based company is developing a new model for night trains in Europe, replacing traditional shared compartments with fully private spaces for each passenger. Its approach positions overnight rail as a direct alternative to short-haul flights and hotel stays, with trains departing from city-center stations in the evening and arriving the next morning.
- The company is entering a market that is seeing renewed interest but long-term decline. While demand for night trains has recently surged, the number of weekly services across Europe dropped significantly from around 1,200 in 2001 to roughly 450 in 2019.
Details of the deal
- The €2 million pre-seed round was led by IBB Ventures, with participation from Italian investor Tommaso Lucca and HomeToGo co-founder Dr. Patrick Andrae. Nox Mobility plans to use the fresh capital to grow its team, build a full-scale mockup of its train design, and prepare the launch of its first routes, currently scheduled for 2027.
"It's a great sign that recently many new promising rail operators start or expand across Europe. However, we do not want to be just another rail company. We plan to totally reshape the way people perceive night trains by making it a true hospitality-first offering," says Janek Smalla, Co-Founder of Nox Mobility.
- Looking ahead, the startup aims to scale its network to connect more than 100 cities across Europe by 2035, targeting both leisure and business travelers with a combination of privacy, comfort, and operational reliability.
