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Carbon neutral courier service Sendle has raised $19 million as the e-commerce boom opens up new opportunities.
An oversubscribed funding round will allow the Sydney outfit to expand its shipping network and support growth while online shopping is in the spotlight.
It comes as Sendle recently reached a milestone of half a million customers across Australia and the United States, just nine months after launching into the US.
In addition, the company says it has delivered Christmas peak volumes every week since the pandemic began, with parcel volumes in Australia increasing over 120 per cent compared to the same time last year.
"During COVID-19, we've seen our economy and hundreds of thousands of Australian small businesses become more reliant than ever on a robust logistics network, so we want to make sure their parcels get to the intended destination efficiently, cost-effectively and sustainably," says Sendle CEO and co-founder James Chin Moody (pictured right).
"It's pretty tough at the moment for everyone, but we're throwing everything we can at ensuring our network is even more robust and reliable during these trying times."
The $19 million raise welcomed King River Capital, a Sydney and San Francisco-based venture capital firm, Alberts Impact Capital, and Marinya Capital as new investors in the courier business.
Returning investors included Federation, Rampersand, Full Circle Venture Capital and NRMA Insurance.
Sendle raised $20 million in a Series B round in 2018 led by Federation, a fund with a focus on renewable energy, health, education, and real estate.
"Sendle is perfectly positioned for the future," says King River Capital partner Zebediah Rice (pictured top left).
"It's exceptional leadership team has created a business that is meeting rapidly evolving consumer demands and needs, including in e-commerce, backed by sophisticated technology and doing so in a way that is environmentally friendly. It's globally relevant and scalable and the growth opportunity is huge.
"King River Capital is excited to be leading this financing and we look forward to working with James and the team as we support them on their next stage of growth, domestically and in the US."
Today's announcement follows six months of growth, during which Sendle signed strategic partnerships with Bonds Couriers to launch a solar-powered delivery fleet, with Shopify to power Shopify Shipping in Australia and, more recently, an integration with online marketplace Etsy.
"Sendle is investing more to help small businesses compete in the face of massive eCommerce growth, with the ten-year growth trajectory in global activity occurring in just eight weeks," says Sendle.
"The additional capital will be used to ensure Sendle's network is stronger and more reliable than ever, and ensure small businesses can deliver to increased customer demand in the coming months and ahead of Christmas."
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