Parcel Perform raises US$20m for growth plans

Parcel Perform, the cloud-based delivery experience platform for e-commerce businesses worldwide, has successfully secured US$20 million to invest in technology and to expand to new geographical markets.

The Singapore-based company raised the sum in Series A investments led by Cambridge Capital, with new investor SoftBank Ventures Asia joining the round alongside existing investors including Wavemaker Partners and Investible. 

Already profitable, Parcel Perform said it continues to see “stellar growth”, with revenue growing by 5x since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The company currently manages over 100 million parcel tracking updates daily, providing real-time visibility of tracking data from more than 700 carriers worldwide. The technology forms the backbone of logistics-related decision-making and customer experience of leading e-commerce brands such as Nespresso, as well as direct-to-consumer retailers like Waterdrop and marketplaces like idealo.

Investing in technology and markets

Looking ahead, Parcel Perform said the “strategic investment from leading blue-chip investors” will help it to cement its technology leadership and support its global expansion and recruitment efforts.

On the one hand, the company will use the fresh funding to build out its technology offerings and invest further in artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. This includes scaling its proprietary ‘Date of Arrival’ prediction engine which allows customers to know precisely when their parcels will arrive.

In addition, the new funding will also enable the company, currently with over 100 employees in Asia-Pacific (Singapore, Vietnam) and Europe (Germany), to establish a regional headquarters in North America and grow to 150 employees globally by the end of the year.

The business will continue to expand its strong network of partners and integrations with companies such as AWS and SAP. Parcel Perform recently extended its B2C website Parcel Monitor, originally a tracking service for end-consumers, into a global community page providing free access to logistics data insights for e-commerce logistics professionals. 

Business-critical customer experience

“With e-commerce becoming the primary retail channel, the need for merchants to provide an excellent post-purchase experience has become business critical. Parcel Perform is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this opportunity with its enterprise-grade solutions and its globally standardised logistics data integrations,” said CEO and co-founder Arne Jeroschewski.

“We are thrilled that our investors recognise our ability to build a sustainable and profitable business by serving some of the most sophisticated enterprise customers worldwide to help them boost their customer satisfaction online.”

Dana von der Heide, CCO and co-founder, added: “We set our hearts on building a scalable, sustainable and customer-focused enterprise software company. We grew our team to over 100 people and expanded our customer base from our roots in Asia to also working with leading brands, marketplaces and carriers in Europe and North America. Today, we are proud to support hundreds of customers by allowing them to leverage our platform as a true differentiator in their markets.”

Global tracking for Nespresso

Commenting on the cooperation with Parcel Perform, Davide Costella, Global Delivery Services Manager at Nespresso, said: “Over more than two years of working with Parcel Perform, their solution has become our global track-and-trace solution. Thanks to their vast coverage of more than 700 carriers worldwide and quick onboarding of additional ones, we have implemented track & trace deliveries in different Nespresso markets across all continents.”

He pointed out: “With the help of their streamlined data in 30+ languages and sophisticated product suite, we are creating excellent post-purchase experiences but also getting real insights into actual carrier Service Level compliance which helps us drive continuous improvement and better rates.

“Tracking assistance is amongst the top reasons customers call our customer relationship center and in some markets, we have seen a 45% decrease in these calls. In addition, with our session cam analytics, we have observed that customers revisit the track-and-trace webpage 4-6 times during the delivery time window, proving it is indeed an essential feature to boost customer experience.”

Unique value proposition

From the investor side, Benjamin Gordon, Managing Partner of supply chain-focused Cambridge Capital, commented: “Visibility is a vital market in this age of e-commerce. After evaluating many companies worldwide, we believe that Parcel Perform simply offers the best visibility and experience solution. They have built a unique value proposition for brands, marketplaces and carriers, with the most complete solution for end-to-end shipment tracking. Arne and Dana reflect what we look for: outstanding founders, with supply chain industry expertise, and a focus on building profitable growth for the long term.”

Cindy Jin, Partner at SoftBank Ventures Asia, added: “The past few years have highlighted the importance of global commerce and resilient supply chains. Parcel Perform did not only launch an enterprise-ready and scalable, modular platform but also built a global community for e-Commerce professionals with Parcel Monitor. Their passion for the industry, hyper global approach and diverse team enable them to provide features that will change the experience for all stakeholders in last mile delivery. We are excited to partner with them and help them drive their next chapter of innovation in e-commerce logistics.”