Technology internationalization product development job creation: this is how the most relevant logistics startups invest according to the funds the money raised in the last rounds.

In the last year and a half, few sectors have experienced a greater take-off in Spain than logistics. Braking at the start of the pandemic before the disruption of global supply chains, the maintenance of its activity became crucial to avoid the shortages of basic goods, to grow later on the back of the strong take-off of e-commerce during the months of confinement and restriction of mobility.

However, that growth sudden the logistics sector in Spain is not only due to the impact of the coronavirus, but also to the innovative activity that are taking place long before the pandemic, dozens of new local companies that are developing new business models and technological tools or creating pioneering solutions to optimize the functioning of this sector.

Technology internationalization product development job creation

Good proof of this are the results that these Spanish logistics startups are reaping in their most recent funding rounds, both during the last year and in the first half of 2021, in which diverse proposals, from new technological tools to the optimization of the last mile, among many other initiatives, are achieving a wide support of funds and investors.

So, in 2020, the Spanish Paack managed to close in November, the largest funding round of the year in Spain, rising to 44 million euros, the same month in which the Trucksters managed to raise € 900,000, thanks to its new investors, while GOI received 17 million by selling 50% of its capital to fund Moira Capital, the same amount raised Ontruck in the month of June, in the state of alarm.

In the case of Kubbo, the startup debuted in the circuit of the rounds during the pandemic raising 266,000 euros in April 2020, to later close its second round with 1 million euros in February of this year. Both results are a good example of how logistics startups are capturing the attention of investors, as has happened with Mox, which has conducted several rounds between 2017 and this year.

Technology internationalization product development job creation

To find out what purposes they are dedicating this financial support, has contacted the founders and managers of the 7 startups in the logistics sector that funds, investors and business angels indicated in March to this medium as the most outstanding for their potential during this year.

Despite the fact that their proposals and business models are very different among themselves, many of them share the same approach at the time of using the funding received from investors in recent months, especially in regards to the development of their technology or their products and services, to increase your template to give a response to increased activity or to the extension of its scope to new markets overseas.

Thus, from the group seville Mox, who was chosen by the 3 funds consulted as the startup logistics most prominent of 2021, recognize that will provide the capital to "continue to develop innovative technology for our industry, primarily focused on our new vertical logistics, Vamox", which recently launched as a subsidiary specializing in last mile.

Technology internationalization product development job creation

In addition, the company led by Gregorio Lopez also stands out among its goals "to give a boost to our growth in Spain", in addition to starting its international expansion, a goal shared with several of the startups selected by investors as the most potential treasure for success throughout this year.

That is the case of SmartMonkey, as indicated to its founder, Xavier Ruiz, who announces that they have just closed a round of seed funding of 425,000 euros, as already announced to this medium in May. "We will promote the first commercial headquarters in Mexico, already open, to serve the Latin American market with the aim of growing mainly in this country, Chile and Argentina," says Ruiz.

This is not their only goal, given that their internationalization effort is complemented by investments for the growth of their business, for which they will expand their team also in Spain, and for the development of their product. "We will develop new features that improve the convenience of last mile deals, the performance of route optimization algorithms, as well as the analytics of dealer behavior," explains Xavier Ruiz.

Technology internationalization product development job creation

In the case of Trucksters, its co-founder Gabor Balogh, focuses on 2 main priorities. "The funding obtained has been mainly dedicated to expanding the technological equipment in order to provide more intelligence to the relay system and to consolidate international corridors," he says, focusing his investments both in attracting talent for the technological development of his product and in its internationalization.

In fact, Balogh recognizes that they seek to increase the number of brokers in which they operate, starting from the 3 with which they currently work. "We remember that we work as an airline through brokers and are able to get air transport times at ground transport prices," he adds.

For the CEO of Navlandis, Miguel Navalón, the raised capital also has 2 objectives, the manufacture of product and the expansion of its team. "We are, on the one hand, manufacturing the first series of our Zbox containers to start logistics operations with them with the first interested shipping companies. And on the other hand, we have added new jobs to complete the team: a marketing director, a commercial director, and several operational positions," he says.

Technology internationalization product development job creation

Meanwhile, Kubbo has a similar approach, according to its CEO and co-founder, Víctor García Pujol. "Our focus this year and where we have allocated more resources is the attraction of talent, product development and growth", noting that the prioritization of these 3 aspects is proving to be a successful approach for your company.

"The results during the first half of 2021 are validating our bet; we have gone from 8 to 21 people in the team, positioned the product as a benchmark in the sector of which we are getting very good reviews, and managed to multiply by 4.5 the number of brands with which we worked at the end of 2020", says the head of Kubbo.

"Product development to improve the user experience in everything that involves logistics of bulky items or that require special handling as well as achieve better logistics flows in the category of home delivery of bulky items", highlights for his part the executive director and co-founder of Boxmotions, Pol Karaso, who adds that they will also invest in"continue to offer our products and services to new customers".

Technology internationalization product development job creation

In terms of Iñigo Juantegui, CEO of Ontruck, recognizes that the capital raised is used for 4 main tracks, the expansion of their service, the strengthening of the internationalization process, after you have positioned as in Spain, France, United Kingdom and the Netherlands, in addition to developing your product with new features and investing in technology and data.

"In February we launched a new service, Ontruck 24h, with which we offer our customers a cheaper price, maintaining the same quality. With the launch of the new service, we have started collaborating with merchandise warehouses that allow us to route our loads with a longer time range. For this new functionality it was essential to create an application for our partners in these warehouses, so that they can control the merchandise they receive and deliver," he explains.

Regarding technological investment and big data, Íñigo Juantegui assures that its objective is "to improve the way our customers receive information, and also to improve real-time routing algorithms".