On Tuesday, Seattle-based logistics startup Flexe announced that it raised $70 million in a Series C funding round. Several new and existing investors participated in the round, including Activate Capital, Tiger Global, Madrona Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and Prologis Ventures. This new funding comes a year and a half after the company raised its $43 million Series B.
Flexe describes itself as the leader in on-demand warehousing. What does that mean? When a business needs access to a warehouse to store its products or a fulfillment center to send out online orders, it can use Flexe’s software to find and book a warehouse or fulfillment facility.
While many large corporations have their own warehouses and fulfillment facilities, not every business can afford them. Plus, the huge increase in e-commerce in 2020 meant that many businesses had to rethink their logistics strategies in order to get their products to their customers.
This trend has increased the need for Flexe’s services, and as a result the company grew its operator network by 50 percent since its Series B raise in May of 2019. Flexe now has more than 1,500 locations across North America.
“Starting in March, we saw a massive spike in e-commerce volumes that exceeded the 2019 holiday season. This investment will help us accelerate technology development, bring innovative solutions to market faster, and support the eCommerce volume growth that started early this year and shows no signs of slowing down,” Flexe CEO and co-founder Karl Siebrecht said in a statement.
Flexe says that this new funding will be used to invest in its team and its technology. The company is currently on a hiring spree, with dozens of open roles across its several U.S. offices, as well as its Seattle headquarters. These jobs include roles in finance, marketing, operations, engineering, sales and business development.
