When adopting the idea of parcel delivery, much of Asia was later than Europe, building a delivery infrastructure around e-commerce, effectively “uberising” the way of delivery, how it works to the last mile. Think doordash, but for parcels, not food. That’s why the founders of the European Relay realize and decide to bring it to the region and why investors just gave it a massive series.
Most Western parcel delivery companies have fixed daily routes that provide drivers with fixed routes dispatched from remote warehouses near airports, etc. to suburban destinations. This creates huge overhead, wasting miles and increasing the carbon emissions of the package, especially when returning. Instead, Asia’s “assetless” model uses mini dogs, such as local stores.
Relay’s end-to-end parcel delivery service takes this approach, more like a food delivery application. It fits the courier’s route, brings delivery and returns to a trip and replaces large trucks with carbon-reducing e-bikes.
Founded by CEO Jonathan Jenssen and COO Nicole Mazza, who worked for the last mile delivery company Stuart, the relay race is now clearly entering its AI-powered expansion phase.
Most delivery people will be given a static photo for handover. According to estimates, Relay augments this through computer vision, increasing the proven compliance by 82%.
As Jenssen told TechCrunch on the call: “When we hand over the package to the customer, can we find it staying in the bin? Is it staying on the porch? It’s just a small example of how we can improve service quality and reduce retailers’ claims, but don’t increase our costs. Then, that feedback goes straight to the couriers, so they know what they’re doing in training. They get better and better.”
The last mile model also greatly reduces energy consumption. “Only one of our customers, we can save a billion miles a year. So imagine this in multiple cities. We are having a huge environmental impact. And there are fewer touch points, so there are fewer opportunities to lose,” Jansen added.
The platform is now used by Vinted, Tiktok, Temu and UK retailers (for example) satisfy. Now also in most British cities, including London and Manchester.
Meanwhile, parcel delivery is on the rise. The global transportation market is forecast By 2030, more than 224 billion parcels will be higher than 16.1 billion in 2023, driven mainly by e-commerce.
Further expansion relay The $35 million Series A-Series led by London VC has now been raised. plural – The founder of fintech giant Wise has partially established a fund. The round also includes participation from Germany Project A and Prologis Ventures, the VC division of global logistics real estate leader Prologis.
In a statement: Plural partner Taavet Hinrikus said why he is so enthusiastic about the company: “Jonathan and Nicole are the perfect couple to do this, having lived and breathed for nearly a decade of the last mile delivery revolution. Their asset model through AI-optimized has resulted in a small percentage of existing businesses.”
