byrd leadership L-R: Chris Bourdeu, Petra Dobrocka, Annemarie van Leijen, Alexander Leichter, Sebastian Mach | Image credit: byrd
Vienna-based byrd, an e-commerce fulfillment network that gives online shops access to scalable logistics solution, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $56M (nearly €53M) in its Series C round of funding. This brings the company’s raised funding, within the last 10 months, to $75M (approx €71M).
Since raising its Series B round, byrd reports it has doubled its customer base as well as average revenue per customer, serving brands like Freeletics, Durex and Campari. The company’s total warehouse capacity across Europe has also tripled to almost 450,000 square meters.
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Investors in this round
The Series C round was led by sector specialists Cambridge Capital. It is an investment firm focused on the applied supply chain. The firm provides private equity to finance the expansion, recapitalisation or acquisition of growth companies in transportation, logistics and supply chain technology.
Matt Smalley of Cambridge Capital, who will be joining byrd’s Board as per the deal, says, “byrd is one of the fastest-growing companies we have seen, at what we think are the strongest unit economics in the industry. We were convinced by their tech-driven approach and warehouse management software, which enables byrd to run an asset-light fulfillment network. byrd’s broad coverage of the European market, excellent customer momentum and strong satisfaction with both retailers and warehouse partners appealed to us right away.”
Besides, Speedinvest, Mouro Capital, Elevator Ventures and other existing shareholders, also participated in this round.
Supporting online shops with an international logistics network
Founded in 2016 by Alexander Leichter, Sebastian Mach and Petra Dobrocka, byrd is a digital e-commerce fulfillment platform that combines various OMS (Order Management Systems) with its WMS (Warehouse Management System) to connect more than 350 online retailers and D2C brands with fulfillment centres and shipping services across Europe. The software is used by warehouse partners and integrates with e-commerce platforms such as Shopify or Amazon.
The company says its logistics solution helps retailers to optimise operations and unlock their growth potential on a global scale. By bringing online merchants closer to their customers, byrd provides merchants with reduced delivery costs and shipping times.
Co-founder Alexander Leichter, says, “E-commerce retailers are under ever more pressure from consumers to deliver as fast as possible, without charging for shipping. At the same time, the global supply chain crunch is increasing pressure on margins and creating delivery issues. This means retailers must look for scalable fulfillment services that cover their core markets globally. When we were approached by Cambridge Capital, we decided that it was the right time to combine our significant momentum in the last year with their expertise in tech-enabled logistics investments to speed up our growth plans.”
Currently, the company has more than 30 warehouses, enabling fulfillment from seven European countries. It already serves the UK (London), France (Paris), Germany (Berlin), the Netherlands, and Austria, and has recently launched new warehouse locations in Italy (Barcelona) and Spain (Milan).
byrd, which is headquartered in Vienna, will use the funds to launch its services in Sweden, Denmark, and Poland later this year.
Capital utilisation
byrd says that the funds will enable them to add new features to its offerings and broaden its addressable market as well as increase the value for its customers of online merchants.
Additionally, the company will also launch support for Amazon’s Seller Fulfilled Prime programme, allowing it to tap into the large market of Amazon sellers who are looking for an alternative to FBA.
Moreover, byrd is expanding its B2B capabilities across the entire network. It will also invest resources into new integrations with additional shop systems, ERP systems and other order management software, such as Xentral for the German market and PrestaShop for France.
By the end of 2022, byrd also expects a headcount of 400 staff across Europe and the UK, with offices in Berlin, Vienna, London, Paris, Barcelona and Milan.
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