Huboo Technologies (t/a Huboo) secures £14 million Series A investment led by Stride

Huboo raises £14 million in a round led by Stride to continue major UK and European expansion and serve £27bn e-commerce market 

  • Since the founders, Martin Bysh and Paul Dodd, received seed funding from Episode 1 Ventures in 2019, Huboo has grown its customer base to over 500 clients and MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) 40x to £800k  
  • Huboo’s unique ‘micro hub’ technology means they can provide complete end-to-end fulfilment for retailers of all sizes in minutes 
  • Huboo is on track for 20x annual recurring revenue growth by the end of the year 
  • The latest round of funding sees European VC Stride and Hearst Ventures join previous investors Maersk Growth, Episode 1, Ada Ventures  and True Capital and takes the total raised to £18 million 
  • The investment will be used to fund UK and European expansion, as well as ongoing software innovation 

Huboo, the UK full-stack, software driven fulfilment provider, is today announcing it has raised £14 million, led by European technology VC Stride. 

Founded in 2017, Huboo uses unique ‘micro hub’ technology to enable online retailers of all sizes – a £27bn market – to access a complete end-to-end fulfilment operation within minutes. 

While many businesses find it hard to access efficient, cost-effective fulfilment to support their e-Commerce businesses, Huboo utilises software to drive a smarter, more productive and human-centric warehouse. 

The company’s software provides everything from transaction management and quality control, stock control, order tracking and billing information to integration with popular sales channels and marketplaces, such as Amazon, eBay and Shopify, enabling the company to directly receive and process retailers’ orders in real-time. 

At the warehouse itself, Huboo houses its teams in self-contained ‘micro hubs’. These replicate the inputs, processes and outputs of a complete warehouse within a few hundred square feet, with Huboo’s management software keeping tabs on every item throughout the fulfilment process.  

This approach allows teams to work quickly, intelligently, and on a set client portfolio, meaning that clients liaise with the same team member each time, while the warehouse job description no longer involves having to walk miles every single day. 

In just 18 months, the business has grown from two employees, 60 clients and £20,000 in monthly recurring revenues (MRR) to 120 employees, over 500 clients and £800k MRR – a growth rate of 40x. 

The company is on track for 20x annual recurring revenue growth by the close of 2020, by which time the business will have further expanded to a headcount of over 200. 

Huboo’s rapid, agile, software-based onboarding process has allowed the business to onboard circa 50 new clients per month during the challenging period from March to June 2020, during which many of its competitors were forced to turn away new business or close down operations altogether. 

This latest round of funding sees Stride and also Hearst Ventures join previous investors – among them Maersk Growth, Episode 1, True Capital and Ada Ventures. The Series A investment takes Huboo’s total raised so far to £18million since April 2019. 

Martin Bysh, co-founder of Huboo, said:

 “Not only has the global pandemic provided the catalyst for a mass shift into multi-channel commerce over the next five years, but there is a real D2C revolution happening. Thousands of young D2C businesses are bypassing conventional retail channels to engage directly with consumers. 

“Huboo is directly placed to benefit from this opportunity. While the problems with existing fulfilment suppliers have worsened during 2020 such as long lead times, delays and incorrect items dispatched – our unique micro hubs are designed to minimise, if not eradicate these issues.” 

Fred Destin, founder of Stride, said: 

“You can only solve the issues facing independent online retailers and D2C specialists by building a full-stack, end-to-end, fully integrated commerce platform.  This is exactly what Huboo has delivered — a full offering for retailers of all sizes that will power the backend of their online stores.”   

Megumi Ikeda, MD of Hearst Ventures, said: 

“Along the with the massive acceleration in eCommerce comes the need for quality fulfilment. This can become an overwhelming burden for SMBs and a driver of poor customer experience. In Huboo, we found a company that provides excellent service with its complete full-stack rebuild of multi-channel fulfilment – from client-facing software to warehouse operations. We are beyond excited to support Huboo in growing its business and offering.”  

The funding will be used to support three strategic priorities – software development, UK expansion and establishing an on-the-ground European presence for the business.  

Huboo will be increasing its software development team 10-fold in the next year to further expand the capabilities of its fulfilment software platform and, to support its rapid domestic client growth, the business will be opening a third UK warehouse in October 2020 with a fourth warehouse planned to open in January 2021.  

– ENDS – 

About Huboo

Huboo was founded in 2017 by Martin Bysh and Paul Dodd, with headquarters and warehousing operations in Bristol, UK.  

Originally launched to help start-ups and SME businesses get their products to customers quickly and cost-effectively, Huboo today makes a comprehensive, software driven fulfillment service accessible to all sizes of business across the UK, with plans to expand its scalable model into Europe and the US.  

Custom-built technology innovation behind the Huboo service offering includes a full WMS, and a one-stop dashboard for customers to set up, monitor orders and stock inventory, and track live product deliveries.   

Huboo’s core operational technology integrates with popular sales channels and marketplaces, such as Amazon, eBay and Shopify, to directly receive and process orders in real time. Huboo’s warehousing and fulfillment service includes automated inventory management, storage, picking, packing and postage of items as they are sold, enabling businesses of all shapes and sizes to be competitive in today’s fast-paced retail environment.  

About Stride VC 

Stride VC is a high-conviction early-stage investment fund co-founded by Fred Destin and Harry Stebbings. The team are theme agnostic, and back great founders to pursue industry-shaping opportunities.  

About Hearst Ventures
Hearst Ventures is the global venture capital division of Hearst, a leading global, diversified media, information and services company with more than 360 businesses. Founded in 1995, the group has grown to become one of the most active and successful corporate venture funds with more than $1 billion invested to date.  

About Maersk Growth 

Maersk Growth is the CVC arm of A.P. Moller-Maersk, the global integrated shipping business. The team invest in ambitious, high-potential global technology and services companies within global supply chain.  

About Episode 1 Ventures 

Episode 1 Ventures is a Seed to Series A focussed investor in disruptive UK technology startups. The firm strive to support founders across all areas of early-stage company-building.  

About Ada Ventures 

Ada Ventures is an early-stage investment fund co-founded by Matt Penneycard and Check Warner. The fund focusses on high-conviction ideas, seeking to enable founders from any background to realise their ideas in an open and ambitious way.  

Safiya Marzook

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