RetailInvestment

Software-driven eCommerce fulfilment platform Huboo has closed a £60 million Series B financing round.

Led by Mubadala Capital, the new investment adds to the £14m Series A funding raised last year and will help fuel Huboo’s expansion into continental Europe after 10x growth in 2020.

Founded in 2017 by Martin Bysh and Paul Dodd, the company has expanded its operations from one warehouse in Bristol to operating four fulfilment centres across the UK. 

It has recently opened a site in the Netherlands and plans to roll out its operations across multiple other European markets over the next 12 months. 

Huboo has acquired over 1,000 customers – ranging from small direct-to-consumer merchants to larger eCommerce brands – resolving critical challenges in their order fulfilment process, from warehousing and inventory management to order logistics and shipping.

The company’s merchant platform uses APIs to integrate with popular sales channels and online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay and Shopify, which allows D2C brands to view and track orders and manage their inventory on a single dashboard in real time. 

Tech bosses tackle key issues facing the sector

The company runs a network of physical warehouses which are split into modular micro-hubs of a few hundred square foot each. The company says these small hubs enable Huboo’s team to pick and pack inventory with high variability in a smarter and more efficient manner, while a new site can be launched within a span of a few weeks.

The round was led by Mubadala Capital and joined by existing investors including Stride, Ada Ventures, Hearst Ventures, Episode 1 and Maersk Growth, and takes Huboo’s total funding raised to nearly £80m since April 2019.

“Scores of new and existing retail businesses now see their future in eCommerce, but while anyone can set up an online store-front and start selling within hours, the infrastructure powering eCommerce is alarmingly outdated, inefficient, inflexible and expensive,” said co-founder and CEO Bysh.

“This is the problem we’ve set out to address with our hub model, which brings flexibility and affordability to the incredibly complex fulfilment piece so that online retailers of all sizes – from part-timers to fast-growth D2C leaders – can benefit.

“We’re thrilled to have Mubadala on-board and are looking forward to developing our plans. This raise enables us to roll out our proposition on a wider international scale, as well as expand our service offering, continue our software development and further invest in our growing team. 

“By taking care of the complexity of fulfilment, our goal is to enable seamless, borderless trade for e-commerce businesses of all sizes.”