Salzburg-based MYFLEXBOX, an open smart locker network provider, announced on Tuesday, February 14, that it has raised €75M in a fresh round of funding.
Founded in 2018 by Jonathan Grothaus, Peter Klima and Lukas Wieser, MYFLEXBOX installs, runs, and maintains Austria’s largest open-access network of parcel lockers with an aim to expand in other markets.
Since its inception, the company has established over 360 facilities to serve a number of top independent express logistics firms as well as e-commerce corporations and end users.
With a variety of last-mile logistics services, MYFLEXBOX says it helps clients cut CO2 emissions and improve operational effectiveness while also offering high usefulness.
Peter Klima says, “We have been pursuing the approach of building an open network and making it available to everyone via modern interfaces. As a result, we managed to win over Europe’s leading parcel service providers within a very short time. Our self-developed software enables a secure, future-oriented logistics platform for the cities of tomorrow.”
Capital utilisation
The Austrian startup says it will use the funds to scale into new markets, especially in Germany, expand its workforce, and expand partnerships with the parcel and logistics industry.
The investment will also help the company grow its parcel stations to 4,000 by the end of 2025.
Lukas Wieser says, “After successful and instructive years as pioneers, we can strengthen our position as know-how carriers and technology leaders with even more power to contribute to all existing and new partnerships. We are pushing scaling into new markets, above all Germany, and will set up more locations at even greater speed.”
The investor
The investment came from the Star IV fund, a London-based fund managed by STAR Capital Partnership. It is a private equity firm focused on developing strategic asset-based businesses in Western Europe, with an enterprise value of between €50M and €1B.
MYFLEXBOX is the first investment of the STAR IV Fund.
With this financing, the UK-based fund has now become the majority shareholder of MYFLEXBOX alongside founding investor Salzburg AG (SAG), a greentech company that offers products and services in the areas of energy, telecommunications and mobility.
As part of the deal, STAR Capital has also made a commitment to provide growth funding for the further roll-out of MYFLEXBOX’s automated parcel lockers (APMs).
Philipp Gensch, Partner at STAR, says, “We are impressed how the MYFLEXBOX team has developed a highly attractive company within such a short period of time. The focus on an open smart locker network, in combination with clever software solutions, creates a highly efficient logistics infrastructure for customers and express parcel service providers that enables a reduction in CO2 and inner-city traffic.”
The MYFLEXBOX founders, SAG, and STAR Capital will work closely on an ambitious organic growth strategy to build the leading open APM network accessible to all logistics, e-commerce, and end users.
