Recent years have seen a huge growth in e-commerce in most developed countries. This means that there will be a growing number of orders coming in constantly from different locations. To fulfil this, logistics companies may face various challenges in the foreseeable future due to various socioeconomic, operational, and environmental factors.
Even though e-commerce giants have developed their own e-fulfilment centres, a significant number of smaller companies still consider outsourcing their supply chain needs to third-party logistics (3PL) providers. This where Sendcloud steps in.
E-commerce shipping platform raises €12.6M
In a recent development, an Eindhoven-based e-commerce shipping platform, Sendcloud, has raised €12.6M in its Series B round of funding. The funding round was led by AXA Venture Partners with participation from existing investors BOM Brabant Ventures, Bonsai Partners, and accompanied by a loan from Rabobank.
Previous investors also include HenQ, TiiN Capital, and Startupbootcamp.
The raised capital will boost the company to open up the global delivery market by enhancing its international expansion plan and ongoing development of the international shipping platform.
About Sendcloud
Founded in 2012 by Bas Smeulders, Rob van den Heuvel, and Sabi Tolou, Sendcloud is an all-in-one shipping platform for e-commerce businesses that want to scale.
The company aims to empower online retailers to compete by optimising the full shipping process from checkout to returns. Its solution turns e-commerce logistics from a bottleneck into an accelerator, making shipping a competitive advantage.
Sendcloud has more than 15,000 customers across the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Austria. Its customers range from small to enterprise-sized online retailers and in industries from fashion and electronics to food & drink.
According to the company, with its SaaS-model as a starting point, it has evolved over the years from a simple API to an all-in-one platform that automates the entire shipping process. From choosing multiple carriers to automating returns, the company optimises the shipping process for retailers. “As a result, handing over a parcel is no longer a simple business transaction, but part of the customer experience, creating a win-win situation for both online retailers and consumers.”
Ambitions to simplify cross-border shipping
According to the company, growing parcel volumes and increasing customer demands create new challenges in the field of e-commerce logistics. It’s of the opinion that a global shipping network will contribute to opening up the complex delivery market for all, providing online stores of all sizes with the tools to compete against the e-commerce giants.
The recent funding enables Sendcloud to integrate more local and global carriers and further automate the shipping process, allowing consumers to choose their desired delivery option no matter where they live.
An exceptional year for Sendcloud
Sendcloud claims that this investment builds on an exceptional year for the company, due to the explosive growth in e-commerce and the recent expansion to the UK.
To support the sudden increase in customers, the company has grown from 120 to 260 employees in just one year. The new funds will be used to hire 200 new employees to accelerate this rapid growth and enter new markets.
Last year, the Dutch scale-up closed a multimillion-euro investment from leading Spanish venture capital firm Bonsai Partners and its current lead investors BOM and henQ in order to bring a solution to a recurring issue in the Spanish shipping market.
Image credit: Sendcloud
