The founders want to make Everstox a unicorn in the long term.
(Photo: Everstox)
Berlin Delivery bottlenecks, high fuel prices, shortage of skilled workers: the many problems in the logistics industry make it clear why digitization is particularly important in this area. Especially as online trade continues to grow despite the mood of the crisis and more and more parcels and packages are being delivered.
The Munich-based company Everstox supports small online shops and takes over all of their logistics. To do this, the start-up is cooperating with various local shipping providers.
What is it about?
The Everstox platform allows online retailers to handle all logistics services through one cloud application. “We have developed a software solution so that trading companies and logistics companies can work together more efficiently and in real time via a platform,” says company co-founder and co-boss Boris Bösch, who previously worked for the Boston Consulting Group.
Everstox is primarily aimed at online shops that use independent logistics solutions but still do not want to operate their own warehouses. “Online retailers invest up to a fifth of their sales in logistics,” says Bösch. Everstox can reduce these costs and also save time, since the software takes over the management of the warehouse and order processing, for example.
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In addition, Everstox can easily provide additional storage capacity if a retailer needs more space due to higher demand.
How big is Everstox already?
The company now has more than 60 warehouse locations across Europe from 25 different logisticians. The start-up, which now has 100 employees, only expanded to the USA in the autumn and has eight warehouses there. Now other countries are to be added.
Everstox has won the Amazon reseller Razor and the meal drink manufacturer Yfood as customers, among others. Razor is also taking advantage of the new US offering.
More than two million items are now sent monthly via Everstox, which is twice as many as in the previous year. According to Bösch, Black Week and the run-up to Christmas were also very successful. He assumes that consumers have saved their purchases with a view to upcoming offers and discounts.
It seems that the online shops that rely on Everstox have done better than others. According to figures from the e-commerce software provider Salesforce, sales for the Black Friday online sales event in Germany fell by twelve percent compared to the previous year.
>> Also read: Inflation and fewer bargains: Black Friday sales collapse
Who are the competitors?
Investors have a lot of confidence in Munich. Julius Lühr from venture capitalist Acton Capital, which has a stake in Everstox, highlights the technology. It enables all processes to be controlled across locations via a centralized cloud platform.
In addition, retailers do not have to commit themselves to their own warehouse, which they often outgrow in just a few months. Everstox enables its customers to have professional logistics processes that offer an Amazon-like experience.
The biggest competition comes from the USA. The world’s largest online retailer Amazon also offers its logistics services for a fee and has 50 large storage centers in Europe. On the other hand, logisticians like FedEx are increasingly targeting smaller retailers with special offers.
There are also other young companies like Shipmonk. The US company has already raised more than ten times as much venture capital as Everstox. The Munich come so far to 25 million euros.
What’s next?
Everstox has big plans: “The Berlin logistics start-up Forto has shown that logistics companies can achieve unicorn status. For us, this is also a milestone that we are striving for in the coming years,” says Bösch. A unicorn is a name given to start-ups that are valued by investors at at least one billion dollars. On the way there, Everstox wants to increase its customer base tenfold.
The money from the latest round of financing will last for a good two years, explains co-founder Bösch. Nevertheless: “That doesn’t mean that something won’t happen before then. We’re still in some talks.”
Every week, the Handelsblatt presents young companies that managers, entrepreneurs and those interested in business should now take a look at. The focus is on the innovation potential, which investors also pay particular attention to. The business models and ideas could also provide new impetus for products and solutions in other sectors.
More: You can find more start-up checks here.