Sweden’s Budbee, Instabox merge to form Instabee at €1.6B valuation; aims to transform last-mile delivery

|

|

Last update:

Two Stockholm-based last-mile delivery companies, Budbee and Instabox, which is also Sweden’s latest unicorn, announced on Monday that they have joined forces under a new holding company, Instabee.

Instabee will be led by Budbee’s founder Fredrik Hamilton as its CEO, while Instabox’s founder Alexis Priftis will become Executive Chairman of the Board.

The newly created company is valued at SEK 18B (approximately €1.66B), and the founders, together with Kinnevik, will be the largest investors. Instabee’s investors also include Creades, EQT, Verdane, AMF, Stena Sessan, H&M, CNI Nordic, and Tham Invest, among others.

Georgi Ganev, CEO of Kinnevik, says, “We are excited to support the combination of Instabox and Budbee. From the outset, we have been impressed with Fredrik Hamilton’s and Budbee’s strong and consistent execution of its growth strategy. With the combination, we expect Instabee to continue to develop its customer proposition, building on the two company’s combined expertise and know-how.”

What is Instabox?

Founded in 2015 by Alexis Priftis, Staffan Gabrielsson, and Johan Lundin, Instabox is a logistics company available through select online retailers where packages are delivered to smart box locations, often the same day a user places their order.

The company operates one of the widest locker networks in the Nordics. With partners such as H&M and IKEA, Instabox claims to deliver e-commerce goods to millions of consumers, mainly through lockers but also directly via emission-free bike deliveries. 

Currently, Instabox operates more than 4,500 automated parcel machines in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Germany. The company says it has consistently grown by more than 300 per cent per year since its inception.

In April 2022, Instabox raised $190M (then, nearly €174.5M) at a valuation of over $1B. The company’s aim was to use the funds to continue investing in sustainable solutions, optimise its technology, and increase its European footprint.

Aim of this merger

The merger would establish a new group to further invest in and push the limits of sustainable, customer-focused last-mile delivery services for the e-commerce industry.

Alexis Priftis says, “I think that this is a great fit between two companies that share a lot of common values. Mutual respect and admiration has grown for a long time, and I’m happy that we are now getting behind the joint goal to transform the world of e-commerce shipping with our obsession with the customer experience and sustainability close to heart. I’m thrilled to see what we can achieve together.”

In a statement, Instabox and Budbee mention that they have both successfully taken on established market competitors and led the way in terms of customer-centricity and sustainability. And the rationale for this merger is based on combining and expanding the knowledge and experience of the two businesses.

When launched, Instabee will be able to compete with established state-owned competitors and well-funded on-demand delivery services. Additionally, utilising operational synergies and sharing technological solutions will result in significant carbon footprint reductions.

Mission to make online shopping easier

Founded in 2016 by Fredrik Hamilton, Budbee is a delivery startup that seeks to spell the end of poor delivery services that constantly give businesses and consumers issues. With Budbee, customers have control over the delivery experience and are able to tailor it to their personal preferences.

Customers can also specify when they want their parcel delivered and how the driver should alert them upon their arrival via the app.

The company provides delivery services to over 35 million people across Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium. It claims to be a dynamic, fast-growing tech business that creates the best online shopping delivery service on the market. With more than 10 million unique consumers, Budbee’s services are currently used by thousands of e-commerce companies, including ASOS, Zalando, Inditex, and H&M.

In May 2022, Budbee raised SEK 400M (then, nearly €38.15M) to accelerate the company’s growth ambition.

Topics:

Follow us:

Vishal Singh

Vishal Singh is a News Reporter and Social Media Marketing Lead at Silicon Canals. He covers developments in the European startup ecosystem and oversees the publication's social media presence. Before joining Silicon Canals, Vishal gained experience at the Indian digital media outlet Inc42, contributing to its growth with insightful content. Despite being a college dropout, his passion for writing has driven his career in journalism.

Partner eventsMore events

Current Month

02apr(apr 2)8:00 am04(apr 4)6:00 am0100 Europe 2025

Share to...