Last-mile delivery provider Gophr has raised £4 million.
The logistics start-up, which has completed more than two million deliveries for leading consumer brands, has scaled rapidly over the course of COVID-19, achieving 300% revenue growth during the last 12 months.
The London firm has more than 5,000 clients, including HelloFresh, Co-Op, Boots and Amazon, and coverage across all major UK cities.
Its focus is on improving delivery performance at the individual courier level, using enhanced package and behavioural data, more efficient routing strategies and gamified incentives.
The round was led by Nauta Capital.
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“With all the hype around drones and autonomous vehicles, people forget – or never really understood – that the delivery business, particularly last-mile, is still a people business,” said CEO Seb Robert.
“Because better couriers deliver better outcomes our focus has been creating a platform that enables each courier to perform ‘better’.
“And unlike most gig economy businesses that see the self-employed as a commodity to be exploited, for Gophr, they’re the talent and an advantage to be leveraged, and they need to be treated and rewarded as such.”
Matt Arrigonie, eCommerce & Last Mile Manager at Co-Op, said: ”Gophr have worked with us on a plan to service new areas of the country with a very modern and impressive website, fleet and service team. This gave my team and I confidence from the initial meeting.
“Ultimately this partnership will result in increased profits for the business, and wider reach for our online channel as we grow the proposition. They are easy to work with, think creatively, and effectively communicate across all channels.
“I think this could be a true game-changer in our eCommerce expansion and potential to bring new customers into the Co-op brand.”
The investment is earmarked for strengthening the core product through improved UX and client customisation options and driving growth by accelerating the vision of expanding from the smartest same-day courier marketplace to becoming the leading delivery operating system for independent delivery operators.
Carles Ferrer, Nauta Capital’s London-based General Partner, said: “As customers, we all have high expectations of last-mile delivery, and yet we barely ever get the experience we want.
“Missing a delivery, couriers not being able to find your address, inflexible delivery times and slots, all seem outdated in the 21st Century.
“So, when we came across Gophr, and saw their courier-first and friendly approach, coupled with their impressive tech and data-driven approach to solving last-mile delivery for clients and customers of all sizes, we knew we had a winner on our hands.
“We are very excited to join Seb and Krzys on this exciting journey to be able to bring last-mile delivery to consumers across the whole of the UK and Europe.”