Papaya Technologies (t/a Papaya) secures £3 million Seed investment led by Giant Ventures
- LogisticsTech
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- Papaya, the platform to source and manage electric fleets, has raised a $3.5M seed round led by Giant Ventures, with participation from Seedcamp, 20VC, FJ Labs, Flexport and Cocoa
- Founded by former Deliveroo employees, the startup’s mission is to build Europe’s largest electric vehicle ecosystem and decarbonise European fleets
- Soft launched in February 2022, Papaya is already live in 5 countries and counts GoPuff and Evri as early customers
- Papaya’s investors also include Sir Richard Branson’s family, Glovo co-founder Oscar Pierre, Exponential View founder Azeem Azhar, Onfleet co-founder Khaled Naim, and former TechCrunch journalist Steve O’Hear
London, September 27, 2022 – Papaya Technologies, the platform to source and manage electric fleets, today announced a $3.5m seed round led by Giant Ventures, the purpose-driven technology firm, with participation by Seedcamp, 20VC, FJ Labs, Flexport and Cocoa. The capital investment will be used to fuel the startup’s mission to build Europe’s largest electric vehicle ecosystem and decarbonise European fleets.
Founded by CEO Santi Ureta and CTO Renato Serra, both formerly of Deliveroo, Papaya launched initially as a vehicle management system to enable fleets to increase utilisation and uptime, and manage all suppliers with one easy-to-use software tool. It has since evolved into a multi-sided platform where vehicles are connected to both fleets and an array of service providers – from vehicle suppliers to equipment firms, insurance providers and charging stations – who gain access to a rapidly growing marketplace of new customers and the tools needed to service them.
This sees Papaya solve the fleet industry’s biggest pain points, whereby the sourcing of electric vehicles and the services needed to run them suffers from a fragmented market and opacity of supply. With no common operating system, there is limited visibility of a fleet’s current status, resulting in a lack of accountability and enormous inefficiencies. Geographical barriers compound the challenge, with fleets having to find regional and local solutions in each market they operate.
Meanwhile, last mile logistics are responsible for 5% of supply chain emissions, set to increase by 32% in the top 100 cities alone as demand for e-commerce continues to grow. To address this, the European Commission launched its Sustainable and Smart Mobility plan with the goal of reducing 90% of transport-related emissions by 2050. Companies running commercial fleets are a crucial component of the transition to a more sustainable economy and Papaya aims to power the ecosystem needed for decarbonisation to happen much faster.
Since soft launching in February, Papaya has on-boarded more than 1,000 electric vehicles, working with industry leaders like GoPuff, Evri and Hived. The platform is live in multiple countries including the UK, Spain, France and Germany and will expand across every major European city by the end of the year.
Papaya co-founder Santi Ureta commented: “Papaya is on a mission to electrify Europe’s fleets. We are committed to empowering the electrification ecosystem by removing any barriers and connecting service providers and fleets in one single system, where anyone can plug in; creating market efficiencies instead of just company efficiencies.”
Tommy Stadlen, co-founder of Giant Ventures, said: “Europe’s brightest and best founders are increasingly focused on climate. Papaya’s world-class team has the potential to accelerate radically the adoption of electric vehicles across the continent with a product that solves one of the hardest net zero challenges facing corporations today.”
Leading angel investors also backing Papaya’s mission include: Sir Richard Branson’s family; Former CTPO of Deliveroo and Monzo, Mike Hudack; former Techcrunch journalist, Steve O’Hear; founder of Exponential View, Azeem Azhar; co-founder of Glovo, Oscar Pierre; and co-founder of Onfleet, Khaled Naim.
About Papaya
Papaya is on a mission to enable a zero-carbon future by building Europe’s largest electric vehicle ecosystem. The multisided software platform connects fleet operators with service providers, generating both operational and market efficiencies for an entire industry.
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