Freight News:
Flexe achieves unicorn status at $1B valuation with new funding
Seattle-based Flexe recently reached a $1 billion valuation with its latest $119 million Series D funding round.
Founded in 2013, Flexe provides on-demand warehousing, transportation and fulfillment services for both online and physical retailers. The asset-light provider doesn’t own or manage any of the facilities used by its customers, which include Ace Hardware, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Ralph Lauren, Staples and Walmart.
Flexe did not provide details of how it intends to use the series D funding. The company currently employs a reported 463 people.
“Despite changing economic conditions, Flexe added nearly as many enterprise customers in the first six months of 2022 as it did all of last year and continues to see strong demand,” Karl Siebrecht, Flexe co-founder and CEO, said in a news release.
With the latest round, total funding is $265 million to date. The round includes new investments from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and follow-on investment from Activate Capital, Madrona Ventures, Prologis Ventures and Redpoint Ventures. It also includes funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, T. Rowe Price Investment Management and Tiger Global.
| Funding details | Flexe |
| Funding amount | $119 million |
| Lead investor | Blackrock Private Equity Partners |
| Secondary investors | Activate Capital, Madrona Ventures, Prologis Ventures, Redpoint Ventures |
| Total funding | $265 million |
Flexe’s growth has been bolstered by the rapid consumer shift to e-commerce buying over the last few years.
E-commerce sales totaled $870 billion in the U.S. in 2021, a 14.2% increase over 2020 and a 50.5% increase over 2019, according to data from the U.S. Commerce Department. E-commerce sales for the first quarter of 2022 totaled $250 billion, an increase of 2.4% over the same period in 2021.
“Flexe has demonstrated that programmatic logistics deliver value for the world’s most demanding companies,” Samir Menon, a director at BlackRock Private Equity Partners, said in a statement. “We’re pleased to partner with a category creator that is transforming a massive industry.”
Watch: Solving omnichannel logistics problems with Flexe.
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Source: freightwaves - Flexe achieves unicorn status at $1B valuation with new funding
Editor: Noi Mahoney