Zip24, a Dubai-based logistics SaaS firm, said today that it has secured $1.2 million in a round headed by UK-based Sturgeon Capital. Hayaat Group, Teqvisory, Robert Kay, and a few other angel investors from the region and the United Kingdom were also involved in the acquisition.
Zip24, which was founded earlier this year by Muzaffar Karabaev and Asif Keshodia, former Amazon (MENA) employees, now offers two products: Shipox, a delivery management software, and Storfox, a warehouse management system. In over 20 countries, the startup already supports over 100 ecommerce merchants, retailers, shipping services, FMCG companies, and restaurants.
Its co-founders have strong ecommerce and logistics experience. Muzaffar is an internet entrepreneur with experience in Uzbekistan, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. He was the CEO of Wing, an on-demand ecommerce logistics firm he co-founded in 2016, prior to founding Zip24. Wing was purchased by Amazon MENA (formerly known as Souq.com) in late 2017. After Souq’s acquisition by Amazon, Asif Keshodia served as Group CFO of Souq.com and Regional Finance Director of Amazon MENA.
They’ve spent a lot of time working directly with merchants and other players in the regional ecommerce ecosystem, so they know what they’re going through. They partnered up to form Zip24 in order to overcome logistics difficulties.
“With our product portfolio, which spans fulfilment to the last mile, we’ll be able to help any e-commerce or on-demand delivery business become more agile,” says the company. In the last 12 months, we have already assisted our customers in fulfilling and delivering millions of orders,” said Muzaffar Karabaev, co-founder and CEO of Zip24. “In the next phase of our growth, we want to become the premier logistics technology enabler for our customers.
“Our objective is to provide innovative and quick deployable logistics SaaS stacks to ecommerce merchants, logistics operators, and other customers,” stated Asif Keshodia, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Zip24. We assist these customers in enhancing their experience and reducing operational costs.”
“With our technology, companies can lessen their reliance on pricey delivery and fulfilment service providers, which can absorb up to a third of a merchant’s income. Predictive forecasting using AI/ML techniques, route optimization, and cross-border tracking — you name it. All of this is possible with our solution, and at a fraction of the expense of their current service providers. We’re in the early stages of the process.
Zip24’s delivery management software, Shipox, includes a white-label website (for team members and clients), a white-label driver app, and real-time vehicle and driver tracking. The company combines it with their POS system to share order information, dispatch jobs to drivers as they get orders, have drivers examine and accept jobs, access optimised routes, and deliver the orders. Businesses can track the status of orders throughout the process and provide reminders to customers when certain steps are completed. They can also use the dashboard to solicit customer feedback and obtain other types of reports.
The online software’s API or ready-to-use plugins for Shopify, Magento, WordPress, and Opencart can be used to integrate it. It’s free for businesses with up to 150 monthly purchases, and it charges paying customers on a cost-per-order basis. According to the pricing information on the company’s website, a company with 1,000 monthly orders pays $100 a month. As the volume increases, the price decreases. Shipox, for example, charges a monthly fee of $3,000 for 100,000 monthly orders.
Storfox, Zip24’s second product, aids businesses in managing their warehouse, supply, inventory, and fulfilment, including online retailers, marketplaces, offline stores, and third-party logistics providers. It has an account management system, invoicing, and shipping connection with Shipox. Although no pricing information is provided, it appears that, like Shipox, Storfox offers both free and paid tiers.
Zip24 intends to use the funds to improve its product and technology, as well as increase its sales and marketing team, primarily in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It also intends to have a physical presence in the United Kingdom by the end of the year to enable direct sales there.
“Sturgeon is thrilled to be leading this round for zip24,” said Kiyan Zandiyeh, CEO of Sturgeon Capital. We believe the combination of a founding team of seasoned entrepreneurs and operators tackling an important issue in underserved and growing markets to be extremely intriguing, and we are excited to collaborate with the company.”
source: Menabytes
