Deliverr Raises $7.1M To Rival Amazon Prime Delivery

Deliverr, the startup that enables Walmart, eBay, and Shopify to have two-day shipping delivery options that allow them to compete with Amazon Prime, raised $7.1 million in a round of venture funding.

According to reports citing the company, the Series A round of venture funding was led by 8VC, the venture capital company. Other investors that participated in the round of funding included Zola founder Shan-Lyn Ma, Flexport chief executive officer Ryan Petersen and other unnamed investors, according to reports.  The report noted Deliverr, which is based in San Francisco, uses machine learning and predictive intelligence to ascertain which warehouses have the clients’ merchandise. Deliverr has ten warehouses in states including Texas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New Jersey. Deliverr co-founder Michael Krakaris said the number of warehouses is growing weekly. The customers typically store the inventory for three to five locations, relying on Deliverr’s predictive algorithms.  Deliverr doesn’t own the warehouses, noted the report.  Deliverr said it will use the funding to grow its team and ink more partnerships with more online retailers.

“Uber didn’t change the physical infrastructure of cars. They didn’t build their own taxis. What they did was create software that could connect excess capacity drivers,” Krakaris said in an interview. “Most warehouses aren’t going to be full. We are going in and filling that extra space they wouldn’t otherwise fill.” The report noted that the startup keeps its packaging brand neutral so that any marketplace can use its services. In contrast, Amazon uses Prime stickers for all outgoing packages, noted the report. “You need an independent fulfillment service that can handle all these different fulfillment channels and be neutral,” Krakaris said.

Deliverr’s business is booming thanks to traditional retailers’ efforts to push back against Amazon, which has been dominating in the online retailing market for years. Walmart, Target and a host of other retailers are embracing things like same-day delivery, curbside pickup and free two-day shipping in order to compete.