ShipBob brings in $40M to help e-commerce businesses compete with Amazon

Nowadays, those of us who shop for everyday goods online are accustomed to said goods arriving on our doorstep 24 to 48 hours after we click ‘buy.’ That’s because of Amazon; the e-commerce giant’s next-day delivery feature is a sweet, sweet deal, but for smaller e-commerce businesses that are trying to compete with Jeff Bezos it’s, well, tough.

ShipBob is here to help. The Chicago-based startup has raised a $40 million Series C to help small e-commerce businesses streamline the fulfillment process and manage inventory.

The company was launched through Y Combinator in 2014 by CEO Dhruv Saxena and Divey Gulati, a pair of engineers that met after college.

“Once we graduated, we thought up this e-commerce store and we were able to automate basically everything in the operation except for shipping and logistics,” Saxena told TechCrunch. “We realized none of the existing solutions out there worked. So, we applied to Y Combinator with this idea that there has never been an easier time to start an e-commerce brand online and these brands need shipping, logistics and back office solutions.”

ShipBob previously raised a $5 million Series A in 2016 and a $17.5 million Series B last year.

Menlo Ventures led the latest round and was joined by existing investors Bain Capital Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Hyde Park Angels and Y Combinator. As part of the deal, Menlo partner Shawn Carolan is joining ShipBob’s board of directors. 

“We love how ShipBob lets smaller, creative merchants affordably offer fast shipping across the country,” Carolan said in a statement. “Customers want what they want, and they want it fast, and it takes serious technology to make it look easy.”