Swedish last-mile delivery startup Instabox enters Dutch market by acquiring Red je Pakketj

Stockholm-based Instabox, a company that claims to transform last-mile deliveries for e-commerce, is entering the Dutch market through the acquisition of Red je Pakketje, an Arnhem, Netherlands-based logistics company that provides same-day deliveries. Though the announcement has been made today, the acquisition was closed in mid-April. The financial details remain undisclosed.

For Instabox, entering the Dutch market follows a €75M funding raise earlier this year, led by investor EQT Ventures. 

For Red je Pakketje’s founders, the acquisition will mean that they will stay with the new company and will reinvest parts of their proceeds into Instabox. 

Aim of this acquisition

This development will accelerate Instabox’s mission to revolutionise last-mile deliveries. The company reports that it now has the opportunity to provide to both consumers and merchants a complete last-mile delivery solution such as home delivery, parcel locker delivery, label-free returns, and flexibility to change destination during the delivery.

Instabox has been growing by more than 300 per cent annually, whereas Red je Pakketje has more than doubled in size each year for five consecutive years and claims to be the Dutch market leader in same-day deliveries. Both companies share the focus on improving consumer experience and developing a sustainable, completely fossil-free parcel delivery service.

Sam Rohn, founder of Red je Pakketje, “This acquisition will enable us to further speed up our growth and offer the fastest most complete delivery solution on the market, whether the customer chooses to receive their parcel at home or to a locker. We know that 77 per cent of consumers have abandoned a shopping cart due to a lack of preferred delivery options. We hope to be able to fix that and change an industry that has been shaped by traditional postal companies.”

To roll-out locker deliveries in the Netherlands

Locker deliveries is a general trend across Europe, with countries like Poland and Germany having 10-30 lockers per 100,000 inhabitants. With only a few hundred lockers in total in the Netherlands and less than two lockers per 100,000 inhabitants, there is significant untapped potential. 

Instabox’s planned expansion in the Netherlands will see the company install around 3,000 lockers across the country in the next two years – an estimated 1400 per cent increase on current locker proliferation. The roll-out of lockers is set to start next month, and merchants will be able to start to ship to lockers during the summer.

What is Instabox?

Founded in 2015 by Alexis Priftis, Staffan Gabrielsson, and Johan Lundin, Instabox is a shipping service that is available through select online retailers where packages are delivered to smart box locations, often the same day you place your 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 direct via emission-free bike deliveries. The company currently operates more than 2,000 automated parcel machines in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.

About Red je Pakketje

Founded in 2016 by Sam Rohn, Tijs van Driel, and Kay Rohn, Red je Pakketje is an online platform providing parcel delivery services in the Netherlands, with the main focus on same-day deliveries to customers at night. Besides, it also offers next day evening delivery and international shipping services and allows users to track their parcels in real-time.

The company is delivering parcels daily for more than 1,600 webshops to consumers in the Netherlands and claims to be leading the market in same-day deliveries.

Speaking on the acquisition, Sam Rohn says, “Instabox has already shown that it can truly disrupt a market, having taken a huge market share from the traditional players in the Nordics. Not only by offering better, consumer-focused services, but also by applying technology that enables precise delivery slots – at the point of purchase. Becoming part of Instabox will help us to complete our journey and achieve the same dominance here in the Netherlands, as well as expand into other territories.”