As it continues to develop its technology to provide direct-to-consumer companies with an alternate method to managing operations, German company Hive secured a fresh investment of $34 million on Wednesday. Hive was established in 2012 in Berlin.
It was formed by Oskar Ziegler and two others with the goal of providing software and operational services, such as clear pricing structures, distinctive features, and environmentally friendly packaging and delivery systems, among other things.
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Ziegler, who began his career as a food delivery driver with the Hong Kong-based foodpanda, moved on to advising on e-commerce logistics India. During a chat with friends who were creating direct-to-consumer firms, the subject shifted to operational issues.
In his words, “it was at that point that I realised we could design something that would provide small shops the same logistical capability as Amazon”, register to get free amazon training.
Purucker noted that when direct-to-consumer (DTC) firms are first established, their owners are enthusiastic about sales, marketing, and finding the right message and influencers to help them get their brand in front of as many people as possible.
However, suppose their order volume increases from 30 to more than 1,000 per month. In that case, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to monitor inventory from their homes, and they are unable to get the cost-competitive freight forwarding rates that the major companies can obtain.
Hive attempts to level the playing field by using data to streamline fulfilment, which he refers to as “the heart of the operation,” by offering a variety of delivery options as well as the ability to obtain the same inventory management, cost structure, and customer notifications that companies such as Amazon use.
Tiger Global Management, a new investor, and Activant were the driving forces behind the fresh fundraising round. Hive receives a total of $44 million in investment, increasing the company’s worth to $157 million.
Fabian Heilemann, a partner at Earlybird Capital, one of the company’s existing investors, said in an email that the whole stack model is superior because it allows for complete control over the ultimate service quality.
“We have looked extensively at the fulfilment space and gained the conviction that the full-stack model is superior because it allows for complete control over the ultimate service quality and provides free e-commerce training,” he added. “Hive has assembled the most talented team available on the European market to carry out that ambition.” That’s why we increased our investment in this round by a factor of two.”
Hive wants to use the extra funds to invest in product development and create new services for supply chain and business teams, triple its technical staff by the end of the year and provide free e-commerce courses. It will also grow geographically, with a launch in Paris in early 2022 as the first stop.
Delivery times in most parts of Europe are expected to be reduced to two days or less, with next-day delivery in the company’s central regions. For 18 months, Hive expanded into a team of more than 100 people for storing items and processing orders via the company’s fulfilment centre. Since then, the company’s income has increased tenfold, and it now processes a few thousand shipments every day on average and working on being the best logistics company in india for e-commerce.