Pickupp, an on-demand delivery and tech startup in Southeast Asia, has secured additional investments from Reefknot Investments, a joint venture between Temasek Holdings and Kuehne + Nagel.
This round brings Pickupp’s total capital raised in Series A to approximately US$20 million.
The new capital injection comes more than three months after the startup picked US$15 million in Series A and A+ rounds, led by Taiwan e-commerce giant PChome and Cornerstone Ventures. Swire Properties, Cathay Venture, DRIVE Catalyst, and Jardine Matheson Group and Zipx from Hong Kong also co-invested in that round.
Pickupp will use funds to strengthen its operational efficiency to accommodate the growing use of online-to-offline services in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia.
The money will also enable it to strengthen its dispatch network; the company will add at least ten new satellite warehouses across heartland areas in the city-state within the next six months.
Also Read: Pickupp snags Series A funding to expand last-mile logistics platform in Southeast Asia
The introduction of these new dispatch points coincides with the firm’s push to increase its walker delivery agent pool to improve the efficiency of deliveries during peak traffic hours and decarbonise its operations with sustainable deliveries.
The tech firm also plans to improve technology to enhance the capabilities and cost-savings of its existing products and introduce new services to meet the evolving demand for last-mile deliveries.
Founded in 2016, Pickupp provides “flexible”, tech-driven logistics solutions for businesses of all sizes. Customers can book a delivery anytime without sacrificing speed and cost through highly optimised batching and chaining technology, while real-time GPS tracking provides end-to-end transparency.
Pickupp launched Shop On Pickupp, a one-stop e-commerce platform offering all-rounded payment and tech-enabled delivery solutions for businesses in 2020.
To fulfil the changing delivery needs, Pickupp will be launching its new self-drop off service. It will feature next day deliveries, no minimum order, at affordable rates where small businesses, online marketplace users, and individuals can benefit. Customers can create an order, drop off one’s parcel at any dispatch point, and avail of Pickupp’s next day delivery service with real-time GPS tracking.
Also Read: Hong Kong startup Pickupp raises funding from Alibaba, Spark Ventures, Axis Capital
Pickupp has operations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan and provides logistics support to 20,000-plus businesses spanning MNCs, logistics giants, and retail and e-commerce. It has a delivery team of over 100,000 delivery agents across all cities.
“Heavy road traffic and carbon emissions are major challenges for the logistics industry in today’s day and age, and the spike in e-commerce and delivery orders will worsen the conditions if left ignored,” said Lee. “Sustainability is a long-term goal of ours, and we aim to achieve net-zero operations in the years to come. Therefore, we are taking on a unique approach to tackle these challenges by building and improving our walker network,” said Lee Chee Meng, co-COO at Pickupp Singapore.
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Image Credit: Pickupp
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