Helsinki based Venture Capital firm Innovestor acts as lead investor in Shipit Oy Ab’s funding round. The total size of the round was EUR 800k. In addition to the investment made from our second fund, we were joined by institutional and private investors.
With the rapid growth of e-commerce over the past decade, parcel shipping volumes have increased steadily. This trend has only strengthened during the current covid-19 pandemic. Consumer behavior has in many regards changed for good, driving demand for more effective logistics solutions.
Shipit is a fast-growing Finnish technology company, which has developed a fully automated service platform for parcel and pallet shipment management, targeted particularly for e-commerce stores and SMBs. The company’s story began when Co-founder & CEO Lari Pihjalapuro noticed that Finnish SMB’s struggled to find cost effective ways for shipping internationally, thus limiting their potential for doing international business. How could a Finnish company compete, when shipping costs could easily be the same as the product itself? He set out to change this.
For the customer, Shipit provides value by offering more affordable parcel shipping rates, decreasing the need for own in house logistics team and making everything accessible via a single easy to use platform.
“The company is riding a strong wave with all forms commerce moving online. The team has been capital efficient in ramping-up volumes, and can demonstrate considerable traction on the Finnish market. We are excited to join the ride for the next growth phase”, says Innovestor’s Wilhelm Lindholm.
The Finnish parcel market is closing in on almost 90 million in annual shipping volume, and estimated at EUR 700 million in value in 2018. In comparison, the Global Parcel Market is valued at almost USD 380 billion in 2018, up from USD 310 billion in 2016.
As the industry has grown, it has also grabbed the attention of VC investors, who have been active in the sector. Some of the recent examples include: Shippo (USA), backed by Union Square Ventures and Bessemer; PackLink (Spain), backed by Accel and Eight Roads Ventures; Parcel2Go (UK), buy-out by Mayfair Equity Partners.
Shipit has grown strongly since its founding in 2016 and is now the market leader within its category in Finland. With revenue growth up 120% in 2019, and operating cashflow positive, the company currently ships c. 50,000 parcels each month among 4,000 registered customers.
“This investment makes it possible for us to speed up our product development, and even more aggressively aim for growth by bringing further liquidity to our internationalization efforts. All while proactively maintaining our outstanding customer service ensuring it scales as we grow. This is an exciting time for us!” commented Shipit’s Co-founder & CEO Lari Pihjalapuro.
Contact Information:
Lari Pihjalapuro, CEO, Shipit
lari.pihlajapuro@shipit.fi
+ 358 400 595 188
Wilhelm Lindholm, Managing Partner, Innovestor Ltd
wilhelm.lindholm@innovestor.fi
+358 405 811 051
Shipit joins our portfolio, which is one of the largest private venture backed portfolios in the Nordics, through the investment from Innovestor Growth Fund II.
Innovestor is a Nordic early-stage venture capital investor, who also offers direct co-investment syndication opportunities and builds growth programs.
