Sendcloud, the Dutch e-commerce shipping platform, has won €12.6 million in a Series B round of investment. This is to enable Sendcloud to enhance its global expansion and ongoing development of its international shipping platform.
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. Prior investors also include HenQ, TiiN Capital and Startupbootcamp.
One of the core parts of the deal is for Sendcloud to optimise its client stores’ shipping and returns processes. This will reduce the shipping costs for the online retailers and enables them better meet customers’ demands. This should enable the small and medium sized retailers compete with larger retail players. The Sendcloud platform has more than 50 integrations including all leading e-commerce platforms and marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix. The all-in-one shipping platform is currently active in 8 European countries, of which the latest is the UK, Europe’s largest e-commerce market.
In focusing on developing a global shipping network the idea is open up the delivery market for all, improving smaller online stores’ competitiveness with larger players. The funding will allow Sendcloud to take on more local and global carriers and further automate the shipping process.
The company has seen explosive growth in e-commerce and business has boomed, even after it had expanded its operations into the UK. It has more than doubled its staffing to 260 employees in the last year, and the funding will enable Sendcloud to add another 200 staff.
“Over the past few years, Sendcloud has evolved into a mature shipping solution that helps online retailers to compete with major e-commerce companies. Due to the explosive growth of e-commerce and increasing customer demands, we see new opportunities to further improve the shipping experience,” said Rob van den Heuvel, CEO and Co-founder of Sendcloud. “By hiring talented people, we can realize our ambitions to simplify cross-border shipping and take e-commerce businesses to new heights.”
