Zalando, Scalpers, Miscota, Leroy Merlin, MediaMarkt, La Sirena, Tous, Sephora, Alcampo, Decathlon, El Corte Inglés, Mango, Colvin, Depor Village... These are just some of the brands that are part of the extensive list of clients of Paack, a company with its registered office on Via Augusta in Barcelona specializing in the delivery of online purchases, with a projected turnover of 200 million euros for this year.
Founded in 2016 by Fernando Benito, Xavier Rosales and Suraj Shirvankar, Paack is one of the companies in the Barcelona entrepreneurial ecosystem poised to be one of the next unicorns ---startups valued at over a billion euros---, along with other clear candidates such as Typeform, Factorial or Housfy. It has just taken a big step to achieve this by closing a Series D financing round that will allow it to raise 200 million euros to boost its ambitious growth plans.
This capital injection has been led by one of the largest technology funds in the world, SoftBank Vision Fund, founded by Japanese investor Masayoshi Son and a shareholder in companies such as Uber, Didi, Revolut, Getaround and WeWork. Infravia Capital Partners (France), First Bridge Ventures (France) and Endeavor Catalyst (United States) also participated in the operation, in addition to some of the investors the startup already had, such as Unbound, Kibo Ventures, Big Sur Ventures, RPS Ventures, Fuse Partners, Rider Global, Castel Capital and Iñaki Berenguer.
In November 2020, Paack had already closed a round for 53 million dollars (47 million euros) led by the venture capital fund Bregal Milestone. Previously, it had raised around 25 million more, so the entry of SoftBank Vision Fund raises the total funds raised to over 270 million.
According to SoftBank, Paack is a "technological disruptor" in the ultra-fast parcel solutions segment for online stores and defines it as "the only operator capable of offering personalized delivery solutions at scale in Europe." "The e-commerce sector is constantly growing and same-day deliveries are increasingly requested by consumers, so we believe that Paack has the perfect conditions to become a leader in the category in terms of technology and commitment to sustainability," explains Max Ohrstrand, director at SoftBank Investment Advisers.
"We are very grateful to our entire team and to the support of our investors. We still have many things to improve, but we have a real opportunity to lead, in the short term, the European ecommerce parcel market in terms of sustainability and convenience," said Fernando Benito, CEO and co-founder of Paack after the announcement of the operation. "We want to be the first company to guarantee 100% zero-emission deliveries across Europe," points out Xavier Rosales, co-founder and general manager of Paack in Southern Europe.
According to the entrepreneurs, the new resources will be invested in product innovation, sustainability, and in expanding their distribution coverage throughout Europe. Currently, the company operates in one hundred cities in Spain, France, the United Kingdom, and Portugal, with a portfolio of 150 clients, including, they claim, 17 of the 20 largest e-commerce retailers in Spain.
Paack currently employs 530 people of 43 nationalities at its Barcelona headquarters and in its offices in London and Paris. Each year it doubles its growth. Thus, in 2021 it expected to bill one hundred million euros, double that of 2020, and for this year it expects to exceed 200 million.
Use of robotics
The startup highlights that it has already achieved profitability in the Spanish market and expects to be profitable also in the rest of the countries where it is already present "in the coming months." With an intensive use of technology and prioritizing that the package delivery process is carried out in the most sustainable way possible, Paack has developed a platform that integrates directly into the virtual store pages to make the process as simple as possible, allowing customers to personalize the delivery of their package.
In addition, the company has its own warehouses where it uses advanced robotics to process up to 10,000 packages per hour in each center and design optimized delivery routes. Its last-mile delivery centers are located in cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Zaragoza, Valladolid, Murcia, A Coruña, Bilbao, Málaga, Valencia, Seville or Valladolid and also in London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester.