London-based Gophr, a last-mile delivery provider, has raised £4M (approx €4.6M) in a fresh round of funding led by B2B investor Nauta Capital, which is a Pan-European Venture Capital firm investing in early-stage technology companies,
Solving the pain point of the industry
The company cites ONS figures, based on which, it claims that the pandemic actually boosted the demand for last-mile delivery making it more business-critical. It has accelerated sector growth by an estimated 5 years (to £16B) (approx €18.5B) in just 9 months. And, with this demand, the customer’s expectation for delivery quality will have to be maintained to receive repeat orders.
Gophr’s founder and CEO Seb Robert explains, “With all the hype around drones and autonomous vehicles, people forget – or never really understood – that the delivery business, particularly last-mile, is still a people business. Because better couriers deliver better outcomes, our focus has been creating a platform that enables each courier to perform ‘better’.
“And unlike most gig economy businesses that see the self-employed as a commodity to be exploited, for Gophr, they’re the talent and an advantage to be leveraged, and they need to be treated and rewarded as such.”
What does Gophr offer?
Gophr was founded in 2015, by Krzysztof Worsa and Seb Robert. The company has built a network that collects in-depth information on customers, couriers, locations, and consignments. The network claims to reduce operational costs – a huge issue for the delivery operators, by automating courier company tasks that are usually done by humans.
The company’s goal is to provide industry-leading delivery experiences for customers, and optimal working solutions for couriers, all the while building a same-day delivery network globally.
Gophr’s network operates in over 50 cities across the UK and has delivered nearly 2 million parcels for over 5000 clients. Some of its clients include HelloFresh, Co-Op, Boots and Amazon, and coverage across all major UK cities.
Use of the funds
According to the company, COVID fuelled demand for home deliveries saw Gophr’s grow their revenues by 300 per cent in the last 12 months.
With this investment, Gophr plans to strengthen the company’s core product through improved UX and client customisation options which will drive growth by accelerating the expansion from the same-day courier marketplace to becoming a delivery operating system for independent delivery operators.
Nauta Capital has offices in London, Barcelona, and Berlin. With over half a billion assets under management and a team of 24 people, the firm’s main areas of interest include B2B SaaS solutions with strong network effects, vertically focused enterprise tech transforming large industries as well as those leveraging deep-tech applications to solve challenges faced by large enterprises. It has led investments in more than 50 companies including Brandwatch, HappySignals, Marfeel, Nextail, Emjoy, zenloop, Landbot, Holded, Onna, MishiPay, and Smart Protection.