Confirming the appeal of the online cargo transportation market, Russian startup Deliver (formerly iCanDeliver) has just announced the completion of a substantial round of funding. The move is coming just two months after a competing Russian project was announced, and a few weeks after the international launch of Uber Freight.
The Russian fund Inventure Partners has just invested $3 million in the company as a complement to a $5 million capital injection provided in October last year by A&NN Investments — the investment vehicle of Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut — and Singapore-based Amereus Group.
Deliver helps companies find the closest shipping service provider and automates the process of ordering freight transport. It claims to have the largest base of carriers in Russia, having registered nearly 60,000 confirmed drivers.
Deliver launched its service earlier this year after completing a beta testing phase. The company already handles several thousands of orders each month with a monthly growth of 30%.
Assessing carriers’ safety and reliability
The startup claims that its technology can calculate shipping prices in 30 seconds. The service also includes a scoring system to assess carriers’ safety and reliability. Only carriers having successfully passed all the stages of the system are allowed offer their services on the platform. This scoring system — which “excludes the human factor” — is similar to the systems used to rate borrowers in the banking industry.
“The efficiency of the logistics market today is extremely low in Russia and in Europe. We believe that it is possible to solve these inefficiencies by applying modern technology,” Deliver’s founder Danil Rudakov stated.
“I’m sure that [our investors’] support will allow us not only to become a leader in the freight market but also to make revolutionary changes in the logistics market,” he added.
Targeting Europe’s huge logistics market
Deliver intends to use the funding to enlarge its geographic coverage, scale its business, and develop new services. It expects to secure up to 15% of the Russian freight market within the next three years, with plans to expand further throughout Europe.
The European full truck load (FTL) market was estimated at more than $96 billion in 2015 with up to 23% empty kilometers because of ineffective transport planning, according to data cited by Deliver.
“Before investing in the company, we studied the global market and believe that Deliver has the potential to take leading positions in Russia and in the global cargo transportation markets,” said Sergey Azatyan, Managing Partner at Inventure Partners.
“Deliver’s technology can help release money that previously circulated in the gray zone, and that money can be invested in the development of underfunded industries,” A&NN Investment Director Svetlana Kalininskaya noted on her side.
Featured image inspired by Freepik
