Delivery-as-a-service start-up Orderin has garnered R70 million in a recently closed pre-series B funding round, which will allow the business to scale up its infrastructure and enhance last mile delivery.
Orderin, founded nine years ago, says the money raised in this latest round of funding brings the total investment to R303 million, having raised R6.5 million in pre-seed funding, R38.5 million in seed funding and R285 million in operational capital between 2018 and October 2021.
The firm, which provides delivery services for the likes of McDonalds and Pick n Pay, employs 120 people and has delivery opportunities for a further 2 000 people. It says with the funding, it intends to also grow the headcount of delivery partners to 3 000.
The latest funding for the on-demand delivery start-up comes as e-commerce is flourishing in SA and beyond its borders.
The Heavy Chef E-commerce Entrepreneur Education Report, released last month, shows e-commerce has been accelerated by five years in SA since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.
According to the report, since the pandemic, 68% of South African consumers are shopping more online. It’s projected that Africa’s e-commerce value will quadruple by 2030.
Orderin head of finance Vulnavia Gura says the funds will assist the start-up to enhance and expand.
“Businesses often have to deal with costly and inefficient last mile delivery due to challenges such as unpredictable timelines, the need to make multiple stops with only a small number of parcels being dropped off at each destination, congested traffic and more,” says Gura.
“Digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and data science can improve last mile delivery by finding the best routes to take to avoid traffic, the most efficient use of fuel, or even better predict demand and labour requirements.
“These technologies play a crucial role in enabling dynamic predictive models which permit our customers to circumvent these challenges at the speed needed for successful delivery. However, it is costly. The funding we raise allows us to scale our talent, tech and offering as we grow our customers and revenue.”
Thembani Biyam, Orderin CEO, adds: “E-commerce has been growing steadily over the last few years but the COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly accelerated this growth. Customer expectations have placed demand on businesses for easy, quick and sometimes even free delivery options.
“Driving the growth and development of infrastructure will improve last mile delivery and make it more accessible for businesses. This applies especially to SMMEs who can find it difficult to compete with larger enterprises on this point, but can also usher in a new future of e-commerce.”
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