Overview
Customs4trade NV, also known as C4T, was founded in 2004 by Pieter Haesaert as a customs consultancy and later built a software product to automate customs and excise compliance. The company is headquartered at Motstraat 30 in Mechelen and has a second office in Wigan, United Kingdom. Ilse Vermeersch was co-founder and COO. Its platform, CAS, is delivered as SaaS on Microsoft Azure and covers customs declarations, special procedures such as customs warehousing and inward and outward processing, excise management, AI product classification, insights and master data. CAS manages more than one hundred thousand customs declarations every month for customers including Flora Food Group, Honda, Isuzu and Agristo. In 2023, 95% of declarations processed had zero manual intervention. CAS 3.0, a rebuilt version of the platform, was released on 4 June 2026 and covers 8 jurisdictions, with 12 targeted by the end of 2027. The company raised €2.145 million from 42CAP and 10x Group in January 2019, €3 million led by Hi Inov - Dentressangle in February 2020, a €17 million Series C led by 83North in June 2021, and €4 million from Hi-Innov, 42Cap, management and angel investors in April 2023. On 30 November 2022 Rupert Spiegelberg was appointed CEO and the founders stepped back from day-to-day management while remaining shareholders. Headcount was about 100 in late 2022 and some 80 in April 2023. The company holds ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 27001:2022 certifications and has been certified Great Place To Work three years in a row.
Funding history
- 2019 Series A: €2.145M from 42CAP and 10x Group
- 2020 Series B: €3M led by Hi Inov - Dentressangle, with 42CAP and 10x Group
- 2021 Series C: €17M led by 83North
- 2023 round: €4M from Hi-Innov, 42Cap, management team and European angel investors
Stated facts & numbers
- Founded: 2004
- Headquarters: Mechelen (second office in Wigan, UK)
- Founders: Pieter Haesaert, Ilse Vermeersch
- CEO: Werner Koninckx
- Employees: About 100 (Nov 2022); some 80 (Apr 2023)
- Product: CAS (Customs Automation System)
- Customers: Flora Food Group, Honda, Isuzu, Agristo, Reynaers Aluminium
- Investors: 42CAP, 10x Group, Hi Inov - Dentressangle, 83North
- Total raised: €26.1M (€22.145M through 2021 plus €4M in 2023)
- Certifications: ISO 9001:2015, ISO 27001:2022, Great Place To Work
Leadership & org chart
In the news
- UCC reform. CBAM. Sanctions. Deforestation rules. Country-specific requirements piling up every month. If it feels like everything is landing on your desk at once, you're not imagining it. Our new whitepaper, Strengthening Customs Compliance, breaks down what's actually happening right now, and how to stop treating each new requirement as its own manual fire drill. Download the whitepaper to get a clear read on what's coming, and where to focus first. https://hubs.li/Q04xxtHS0
- Big day for our sector. The European Parliament has just given final approval to the reform of the EU Customs Code, the biggest overhaul of EU customs rules in over 50 years. Beyond the headlines, this is what it really means for trade in Europe: - One digital backbone instead of a patchwork: the new EU Data Hub replaces 111+ fragmented national systems with a single data layer, making cross-border trade faster and more predictable - A level playing field: non-EU e-commerce platforms now carry real responsibility for duties and
- If you could fix just one thing about compliance in your organisation, what would it be? We asked that exact question to attendees at our Strengthening Customs Compliance webinar. The answer was clear: real-time visibility, better reporting, and more control over their own data came out on top. All three point to the same root cause. When customs data is scattered across brokers, spreadsheets, and disconnected systems, you're always looking backwards instead of knowing where things stand right now. Bring that data into one
- If customs asked for an audit report tomorrow, how fast could your team deliver it? For some businesses, minutes. For others, more than two weeks. That's what we found when we polled attendees during our Strengthening Customs Compliance webinar. The most common answer was less than 24 hours, a solid result, but a big share of teams said it would take several days, and some admitted it would take more than two weeks to pull together. That gap comes down to one thing: whether your data is audit-ready by default. When customs data is
- Proud to see Customs4trade named among these organisations, a great reflection of the team and culture we're building together! 👏
- How Kraft Heinz turned customs from a cost centre into a competitive advantage. Kraft Heinz produces 1.1 million bottles of ketchup a day at its Dutch facility, with operations spanning the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands. On its high-frequency UK–Ireland trade lane, claiming Returned Goods Relief took 45 minutes per shipment, manually matching export declarations to imports and assembling proof of origin. Some claims simply weren't worth pursuing. "We couldn't claim every single duty because we were lacking all the documentation
- Do you handle bulk goods and wonder if you're ready for what's coming in customs and excise? C4T is joining forces with EY and Port of Antwerp-Bruges for an afternoon dedicated to companies in the bulk industry. Expect practical insight into: 🔻The UCC reform and Belgium's new bulk goods procedure 🔻The impact on declarations and authorisations 🔻Blending processes, special procedures and shortage reporting 🔻How technology can strengthen compliance for bulk goods When: 29 September 2026, 13:30–17:30 Where: Havenhuis, Antwerp
- Move over, solar eclipse. CAS just had its own moment of darkness, and this one is here to stay. Dark mode is now live for every CAS user. No settings to find, no configuration needed. Just switch and go. Why it matters: - Less strain on your eyes, more energy for the days you spend a lot of time in CAS - One less thing competing for your attention, so you can focus on the work that matters - One of the most requested improvements, now live It is a small change with real impact. Same powerful customs automation, easier on the
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