Arive raises $20M for an instant delivery service beyond groceries and essentials
Arive is announcing a Series A of $20 million to see if their idea for delivery of the wider world of consumer goods finds traction beyond essentials
Instant purchase and delivery of food and other essentials was one of the big bubbles of opportunity in the world of e-commerce in the last year, with dozens of startups big and small emerging and scooping up funding to build out businesses to bring items like groceries, toilet paper and Tylenol to people’s doors in 30 minutes or less.
Now a startup called Arive that’s applying this concept to the wider world of consumer goods in a Prime Now-style service — partnering with premium stores and brands to sell and deliver items like Apple electronics and Bose headphones, Lululemon activewear, furniture and beauty and bath products and Van Moof electric bikes, and then delivering items via its own courier service — is announcing a Series A of $20 million to see if the idea finds traction beyond essentials.
The funding is being led by Balderton Capital, with Global Founders Capital (the firm connected to Rocket Internet’s Samwer family), Burda Principal Investments, La Famiglia and 468 Capital also participating. (La Famiglia and 468 Capital are repeat backers of Munich-based Arive, both having invested in the seed round for the company, which is not to be confused with the mortgage startup of the same name in the U.S.)
Arive’s funding, and list of backers, is notable in that it’s based on a pretty limited run so far. The startup launched only four months ago and is currently active in just four cities in Germany — Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Frankfurt — although now the idea will be to use the investment to expand further across the country and to start considering which other markets to tackle next.
“It’s not just about being the next quick commerce vertical but building the next generation of e-commerce,” said Maximilian Reeker, who co-founded Arive with Linus Fries (the two co-lead the company). He described that next generation like this: “Very convenient delivery of between 30 and 60 minutes, connecting people to local stores with a bike-based service, in an app optimized for the phone.” All of its couriers are employed by the company, either full-time or part-time.
“We want to go to more places in Germany and expand internationally, and while we haven’t decided which cities, we are looking at those where existing grocery plays are live,” said Reeker. “The U.K., France, they are all interesting. Having those grocery companies there is an advantage for us because it’s evidence of the consumer shift that has taken place. They are already used to getting their food quickly, which is the first step.”
Arive is not the first company to have thought of building a service around instant delivery of virtually any kind of item a person might like to have without leaving their homes to buy it. This was basically the premise behind Amazon Prime Now, which the e-commerce giant launched in 2014. Pointedly, although Amazon expanded it to several markets, eventually it discontinued the standalone app and branding it had built for Prime Now, which now exists as a faster-delivery option for some of the items that it sells via Prime.
Frankfurt Valley congratulates the entire team of Arive to have made such a significant mark in such a short period of time and wishes them the best of luck for their plans of expansion in other parts of Germany & Europe.
Website:https://www.alasco.de/en/
Edited By:- Shafique Fakih & Kashish Chaudhary (Mainstage Hub)
Article Source:- https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/10/arive-raises-20m-for-an-instant-delivery-service-beyond-groceries-and-essentials/
For Features:- https://frankfurtvalley.app/advertising-partnerships/
