Last-mile delivery software vendor Onfleet will broaden its product offerings and expand its global footprint thanks to $14 million in funding it raised today, saying the move will meet surging customer demand triggered by the pandemic.
The “series A” round was led by Kennet Partners and brings Onfleet’s total funding raised to $20 million since it was launched in 2015.
The company says it has doubled its year-over-year overall delivery volume as Covid-19 has rapidly accelerated retail’s transition to online, delivery-centric models. The firm serves any industry that requires last mile delivery, including grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants, beverage companies, retailers, and e-commerce businesses.
“Online delivery is a long-term growth industry, and the Covid-19 pandemic has only accelerated its explosive adoption. In order to compete, brands will need to extend their customer relationship and service experience to the doorstep, which creates a large market need that Onfleet is well-positioned to solve,” Javier Rojas, managing director at Kennet Partners, said in a release.
The San Francisco-based startup provides logistics management software for last-mile delivery operations, using its routing and dispatch platform to enable real-time communications and proactive delivery management.
“We are living in a time of never-before-seen global economic uncertainty, which has turned the need for fast, reliable delivery services from a luxury to a basic necessity,” Onfleet Co-Founder and CEO Khaled Naim said in a release. “In a few short months, the importance of our work has become even more pronounced and we are doing everything that we can to help our clients quickly and efficiently deliver goods to their customers.”
According to Naim, last mile delivery has never been more critical to commerce than it is today, as retail continues its digital transformation from in-store to online, home delivery. “We didn’t need to raise additional funding. However, as it became clear to us that the shift to delivery-centric business models had been accelerated by several years, we felt that it was the right time to bring on a new partner,” Naim said in a blog post. “This funding, which brings our total raised to date to $20 million, will allow us to grow the team more rapidly, enhance our product offerings for both in-house and outsourced delivery models, support our international expansion efforts, and solidify our position as the leader in the last mile delivery technology space.”
