When Constantine Roberts worked at Zalora, he was involved in six warehouse moves as the e-commerce company overwhelmed its logistics infrastructure. This inspired him to co-found Locad, a logistics provider for an omni-channel e-commerce company that connects a network of third-party warehouses and carriers to a cloud-based platform called a “logistics engine.”
Founded in Singapore and Manila by Robertz by Zalora alum Jannis Dargel and Shrey Jain, former map lead product manager at Grab, Locad today announced it has raised $11 million in Series A funding led by Reefknot Investments. Announced. + Nagel. Returning investors Sequoia India and Southeast Asia’s Surge, Febe Ventures and Antler also participated, as did new backers Access Ventures, JG Summit and WTI.
The last time TechCrunch covered Locad was in 2021 when it raised a $4.5 million seed round.
Locad can handle almost every part of the shipping process, from inventory storage to packaging, shipping and tracking. So far, Locad has fulfilled orders for 200 brands, including Havaians, Levi’s Reckitt Benckisder and Emma Sleep. Our customers are spread across Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong and Australia, and we typically ship around 25-5,000 orders per day. Last year, Locad was used to ship more than 2 million of his orders, boasting a 99% same-day order fulfillment rate.
The new funding will be used to add more warehouses and carriers to Locad’s network and to hire people in Southeast Asia and Australia, with the goal of building the largest warehouse network in the region over the next five years.
Helping Zalora scale up its logistics infrastructure, Robertz says, “has given us a better understanding of how a cloud approach to supply chain can be a better way to go, with a scalable logistics-as-a-service infrastructure.” I sowed the seed,” he said. During his time at Zalora, Roberts and Dargel also worked with brands that needed to set up their own e-commerce fulfillment capabilities and tech stacks to support multiple sales channels.
Originally created for B2B wholesale distribution, traditional logistics infrastructure could no longer keep up with D2C brands as sales channels expanded. It also meant that as we scaled, we could no longer rely on “walled garden” fulfillment networks operated by e-commerce platforms such as Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).
At the same time, consumers want faster and cheaper delivery, and offering multiple options such as same-day, next-day, and economical shipping is critical for conversions at checkout. To deliver faster without paying more, retailers need to store goods closer to the customer to enable faster last-mile delivery in less time, Roberts said. said. This requires a network of warehouses and integration between sales channels, warehouses, and carriers. That’s what Locad’s technology makes possible.
Locad’s logistics engine syncs inventory from multiple sales channels, including Shopify, Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok shops, and manages storage and delivery through a network of warehouses and carriers. Many of Locad’s customers approach the startup first while phasing out their own logistics operations. In many cases, a brand will start with one warehouse to consolidate inventory and order fulfillment across sales channels before stocking additional warehouses based on the customer’s location.
As it expands across Southeast Asia and Australia, Locad also plans to increase the number of warehouses in Tier 1 to Tier 3 cities in the region, all with the goal of enabling same-day delivery.
In a statement regarding the funding, Reefknot Investments Vice President Ervin Lim said: We believe Locad’s logistics engine will facilitate participation in the digital economy, as consumers outside Tier-1 cities can receive orders two to three times faster at a fraction of the usual cost. increase. ”
