(flex photo)
Seattle-based startup Flexe is raising more money to bolster its market used by retailers to buy warehouse space on-demand.
A new SEC filing reveals that the company has raised $67.9 million from a larger round. The company declined to comment on the submission when reached out by GeekWire.
Supply chain management startups set a record for funding last year as their software helped companies struggling amid the volatility caused by the pandemic. Flexe has also experienced huge tailwinds from the acceleration of online sales during the pandemic.
Flexe CEO Karl Siebrecht. (flex photo)
Just earlier Thursday, Convoy, a digital freight startup in Seattle, announced a $260 million round against a $3.8 billion valuation.
Flexe last raised funds in late 2020, raising $80 million as part of a Series C round.
Founded in 2013, Flexe describes itself as a warehousing-as-a-service company, helping retailers convert what were traditionally fixed expenses into variable costs. Its customers don’t have to invest millions in long-term warehouse leases; they just pay for what they need at a given time.
It’s similar to how pay-as-you-go cloud computing services like AWS or Azure replaced the need for a company to purchase and run their own data centers.
“Traditional warehousing is a lot like traditional data centers,” Flexe CEO Karl Siebrecht previously told GeekWire.
Flexe also offers companies a way to move inventory closer to where customers live, reducing delivery times. That’s important as Amazon continues to make 1-day and 2-day deliveries the industry standard.
“Measure the impact of same-day delivery on sales across regions, expand into new markets and compete directly with Amazon without the risk of fixed investments,” the company notes on its website.
Siebrecht, formerly an executive at aQuantive and AdReady, co-founded the company with Edmond Yue and Francis Duong after attending a housewarming party and meeting an entrepreneur who complained about finding warehouse space for his bar business. Siebrecht is a finalist for CEO of the Year at the GeekWire Awards.
Flexe employs 450 people. Past investors include T. Rowe Price, Activate Capital, Tiger Global, Madrona Venture Group, Redpoint Ventures, Prologis Ventures, and others.
Other Seattle logistics and e-commerce software startups that have raised money in recent years include Shipium, Logixboard, Stackline, Fabric, FlavorCloud, Pipe17, Pandion, and SoundCommerce.
This post Flexe raises more money while investors continue to bet big on logistics startups
was original published at “https://www.geekwire.com/2022/flexe-is-raising-more-cash-as-investors-continue-betting-big-on-logistics-startups/”
