When Constantin Robertz worked at Zalora, he was involved in moving warehouses six times as the e-commerce company outgrew its logistics infrastructure. This inspired him to co-found locatea logistics provider for omni-channel e-commerce companies that connects its network of third-party warehouses and carriers with a cloud-based platform called a “logistics engine.”
Founded in Singapore and Manila by Robertz, Zalora alumnus Jannis Dargel, and Grab’s former senior map product manager Shrey Jain, Locad today announced it has raised $11 million in Series A funding led by Reefknot Investments, a joint venture between Temasek and the logistics company Kuehne. +Nagel. Returning investors Sequoia India and Southeast Asia Surge, Febe Ventures and Antler also participated, along with new backers Access Ventures, JG Summit and WTI.
TechCrunch last covered Locad when it raised its seed round of $4.5 million in 2021.
Locad can handle almost every part of the delivery process, from stocking and packing inventory to shipping and tracking. So far, Locad has provided order fulfillment for 200 brands, including Havaians, Levi’s Reckitt Benckisder and Emma Sleep. His customers are spread across Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Australia, and they typically ship between 25 and 5,000 orders a day. Last year, Locad was used to ship over two million orders and claims a 99% same-day order fulfillment rate.
Its new funding will be used to add more warehouses and transport operators to Locad’s network and on contracting in Southeast Asia and Australia, with the goal of building the largest warehouse network in the region over the next five years.
Robertz said that helping Zalora expand its logistics infrastructure “sowed the seeds of how a cloud approach to supply chain, with scalable logistics infrastructure as a service, would be a better way.” During their time at Zalora, Robertz and Dargel also worked with brands that had to set up their own technology and eCommerce fulfillment capabilities to support multiple sales channels.
The legacy logistics infrastructure, originally built for B2B wholesale distribution, couldn’t keep up with direct-to-consumer brands as their sales channels multiplied. It also meant they could no longer rely on “walled garden” fulfillment networks run by e-commerce platforms, such as Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), as they expanded.
At the same time, consumers want faster and cheaper delivery, and offering multiple options like same day, next day, or economy shipping is important for checkout conversions. Robertz said that to deliver faster without paying more, retailers need to store products closer to customers to allow for shorter and faster last-mile deliveries. This requires a network of warehouses and the integration between sales channels, warehouses and carriers. That’s what Locad’s technology enables.
Locad’s logistics engine syncs inventory from multiple sales channels, including Shopify, Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok Shops, and manages warehousing and delivery across its network of warehouses and carriers. Many of Locad’s customers are approaching startup for the first time while phasing out their internal logistics operations. Brands often start with one warehouse to consolidate their inventory and order fulfillment across all sales channels, before moving inventory into additional warehouses based on their customers’ locations.
As it expands across Southeast Asia and Australia, Locad also plans to increase the number of warehouses in the region’s Tier 1 to Tier 3 cities, with the goal of enabling same-day delivery in all of them.
In a statement on the financing, Reefknot Investments Vice President Ervin Lim said: “Locad’s unique operating model of locating warehouses in cities ensures inventory is kept close to customers, enabling significant cost savings and time for both the brand and the consumer. We believe Locad’s logistics engine will stimulate further participation in the digital economy, as consumers outside of Tier 1 cities can now receive their orders 2-3 times faster at a fraction of the usual cost.”
