Scale-up plans recruitment of 200 new employees to accelerate growth
November 16th 2020, London – Sendcloud, the leading e-commerce shipping platform in
Europe, today announced it has closed a €12.6 million Series B Round. The new investment
will enable the company to open up the global delivery market by enhancing its international
expansion and ongoing development of the international shipping platform. The funding round
was led by AXA Venture Partners with participation from existing investors BOM, Bonsai
Partners and accompanied by a loan from Rabobank. Prior investors also include HenQ, TiiN
Capital and Startupbootcamp.
With the full support of investors, Sendcloud will continue to expand its vision to strengthen
the market position of online stores by optimizing their shipping- and returns process. This
streamlined process reduces the costs of shipping for online stores and helps them to meet
consumers’ demands, enabling them to compete with larger e-tailers on a global scale.
Sendcloud offers 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.
Over the past years the Dutch scale-up has made huge steps in simplifying the shipping
process for online retailers. However, growing parcel volumes and increasing customer
demands create new challenges in the field of e-commerce logistics. A global shipping network
will contribute to opening up the complex delivery market for all, providing online stores of all
sizes with the tools to compete against the e-commerce giants.
The funding enables Sendcloud to integrate more local and global carriers and further
automate the shipping process, allowing consumers to choose their desired delivery option no
matter where they live. The investment builds on an exceptional year for Sendcloud, due to
the explosive growth in e-commerce and the recent expansion to the UK. To support the
sudden increase in customers, the company has grown from 120 to 260 employees in just one
year. The new funds will be used to hire 200 new employees to accelerate this rapid growth
and enter new markets.
“We first spoke to the Sendcloud team over three years ago and they have continually
delivered on their plans, we are excited to support their continued international expansion with
this growth investment,” said Imran Akram, General Partner of AXA Venture Partners (AVP).
“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.”
About Sendcloud
Sendcloud is an all-in-one shipping platform for e-commerce businesses that want to scale. It
is our mission to empower online retailers to compete by optimizing the full shipping journey
from checkout to returns. Our solution turns e-commerce logistics from a bottleneck into an
accelerator, making shipping a competitive advantage.
Founded in the Netherlands in 2012, Sendcloud has quickly become one of the fastest growing
scale-ups and leading shipping solutions in Europe, with more than 15,000 customers across
the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Austria. Customers range from small to
enterprise-sized online retailers and in industries from fashion and electronics to food & drink.
Technology is at the heart of Sendcloud. With a SaaS-model as a starting point, the company
has evolved over the years from a simple API to an all-in-one platform that automates the
entire shipping process. From choosing multiple carriers to automating returns, Sendcloud
makes shipping a virtue of necessity. Our passion for tech drives us to improve our platform
everyday to ensure retailers and consumers can count on the best shipping solution ever. By
optimizing the shipping process for retailers, the consumer experience is taken to a higher
level. As a result, handing over a parcel is no longer a simple business transaction, but part of
the customer experience, creating a win-win situation for both online retailers and consumers.
About AXA Venture Partners (AVP)
AXA Venture Partners (AVP) is a global venture capital firm investing in high-growth,
technology enabled companies. AVP has built, in less than five years, a unique investment
platform specialized in tech investments with $800 million of assets under management
through three pillars of investment expertise: early stage, growth stage, and fund of funds. To
date, AVP has invested in more than 45 companies and more than 20 funds. The AVP team
operates globally with offices in San Francisco, New York, London, Paris, and Hong Kong.
Beyond investments, AVP provides unique access to business development opportunities
helping portfolio companies to scale globally and accelerate their growth. More details
here: www.axavp.com
