The Philippines E-Commerce Market now has a gross trading volume of $12 billionup 132% from 2020, and is expected to reach $26 billion in GMV by 2025. This is good news for online sellers, of course, but it also means more shipping headaches, especially for smaller sellers who have to drop off packages at courier warehouses.
shipmates wants to save them time and money by merging multiple couriers into one platform. Online sellers can book couriers through the app, who then come to their location to pick up packages. The startup, a Y Combinator and iterative alum, announced today that it has raised $2.2 million in seed funding. The round included Cathexis Ventures, Wavemaker Partners, Taurus Ventures, Capital X and Sketchnote Partners.
Shipmates founders David Marquez and Josh Supan
Founded in July 2021 by CEO Josh Supan and CTO David Marquez, Shipmates aims to become the premier shipping tool for online merchants in the Philippines while strengthening the country’s shipping infrastructure. The platform allows online merchants to compare rates between different carriers and book standard or multiple orders.
The platform is currently integrated with 9 courier companies and the founders say it is the only aggregator in the Philippines to have both on-demand and standard couriers.
Supan and Marquez are childhood friends who… started with an e-commerce enabler in 2017. Supan told businesskinda.com that they “turned from there when we saw the merchants’ problem didn’t come online, it shipped their online orders.”
Shipmates’ target customers are small to medium-sized online merchants with typical shopping carts ranging from $20 to $50. Supan explained that the shipping process in the Philippines is still manual, as couriers are not connected to e-commerce platforms and rely on business owners to deliver packages. to be physically delivered to a hub or warehouse.
As a result, many online sellers take a day to ship orders. However, Shipmates is reducing that process to less than 10 minutes, Supan said. The platform also automates waybills and address validations.
Shipmates makes money by charging 30 cents for every order booked through the platform. Supan says its revenue has grown 30% month-over-month since its platform launched last December.
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