Whenever we receive a parcel, it’s always a mediocre experience. You’re never sure when it’ll turn up, and even if you wait around all day, the parcel often ends up being thrown over the fence.
The catalyst for Packfleet came when I realised how broken the customer experience with couriers really is. The frustration and apathy we feel for delivery brands has become the norm, and there was a clear gap in the market for a courier service that customers could love.
But it’s not just consumers that suffer with couriers – merchants do too, and Packfleet is overhauling the business experience as well. During lockdown, I started a wine delivery service to stave off boredom with my newfound free time after work. As a result, I was exposed to delivery from a seller’s point of view, and was surprised at how obtuse and inefficient it was.
I had issues with every major courier service. Either the sign up process was far too long, or parcels were frequently turning up to customers broken – which with wine isn’t ideal. I knew there was a better way to do deliveries, and that’s when the idea for Packfleet came about. I wanted to make sending parcels as easy as booking an Uber or ordering a Deliveroo.
Tell me about the business – what it is, what it aims to achieve, who you work with, how you reach customers and so on?
At Packfleet, we bring the tech that you’d expect from the likes of Deliveroo and Uber to the world of parcel delivery. We provide live tracking for every package (with an ETA that’s actually correct) and offer the option to change everything about the delivery: the time it arrives, the address it arrives at, whether we ring your doorbell or not – all at any point on your parcel’s journey. It’s all about customer choice, something we don’t get a lot of when ordering parcels.
We’re also bringing driver standards in line with the rest of the working world. Whilst the majority of the big courier companies franchise out their vans, or pay drivers for every parcel they deliver, we employ drivers like any other member of staff. They get all the benefits of full time work, and don’t have to drive recklessly to deliver their parcels – which sadly isn’t the industry standard.
We’re really pleased to be working with hundreds of brilliant merchants across London, delivering everything from wine to chilli sauce. Word of mouth is the biggest factor in getting new merchants on board, and we’re proud that’s the case – we see it as a real testament to our service.
How has the business evolved since its launch? When was this?
When I first launched Packfleet back in June 2021, I was operating solely out of my living room. I’d roped my brother-in-law into delivering parcels for me, and I was managing operations from my sofa. Eventually, my partner and I couldn’t even get into the living room to watch TV due to the amount of parcels in there – that’s when I realised Packfleet was getting serious. When Packfleet moved out of my living room and into Surrey Quays, we were a team of four. Now we’ve grown to have a team of over 30 people.
How are you funded?
In April, we were really fortunate to close an oversubscribed seed round. In the end, we secured £8M, with Creandum (the same business that backed Spotify) being the lead investor. We’ve also received backing from the likes of General Catalyst and Founder Collective.