ShipBob in the news
ShipBob is democratizing ecommerce and the ability to sell online, giving direct-to-consumer brands access to fast, accurate fulfillment to compete with the largest retailers. View our media coverage below.
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Christopher Mims,
Technology columnist, The Wall Street Journal
Alongside life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, you can now add another inalienable right: two-day shipping on practically everything. Mom-and-pop shops and even midsize retailers can no longer assume buyers will put up with getting their goods several days later…Sellers are turning to startups like ShipBob.
Recent press
December 16, 2024
Top Tech Startup Award: AI-Powered Startups Address Today’s Supply Chain Challenges
This award is designed to showcase those startups making a difference in the supply chain space.
November 22, 2024
Top Workplaces 2024: Explore the full list of Chicago-area winners
For the past 15 years, Energage, formerly Workplace Dynamics, has been ranking workplaces in the Chicago area and the nation through employee surveys, assessing everything from work-life balance to confidence in company leadership. No. 30: ShipBob.
November 18, 2024
Entrepreneur Of The Year® US Technology Software Award winner: Dhruv Saxena, CEO and Co-Founder ShipBob
After receiving recognition as a Midwest award winner, Dhruv Saxena has been recognized as the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2024 Award winner.
October 8, 2024
ShipBob Announces AI/ML-Driven Inventory Placement Program for Automated Distribution and Replenishment is Now Available to All Merchants in the U.S.
ShipBob announced that its Inventory Placement Program (“IPP”) is now fully available in the United States to all ecommerce merchants. IPP automates and optimizes the process of distributing and rebalancing inventory across different regions of the United States through ShipBob’s AI-powered Decision Engine.
October 1, 2024
Chain Reaction: ShipBob’s Dhruv Saxena on Building Supply Chain Resilience Through Strategic Inventory Management
Chain Reaction is Sourcing Journal’s discussion series with industry executives to get their take on today’s logistics challenges and learn about ways their company is working to keep the flow of goods moving. Here, Dhruv Saxena, CEO & co-founder of ShipBob, discusses how the supply chain and fulfillment platform is helping its customers navigate the ever-evolving logistics landscape with its suite of solutions—all while minimizing costs and streamlining operations.
September 19, 2024
1871 Announces the 17th Annual Momentum Award Winners: Outstanding Tech CEO Award to Dhruv Saxena of ShipBob
The Outstanding Tech CEO award was given to Dhruv Saxena, co-founder and CEO of ShipBob. As the leader of one of the fastest-growing tech companies in North America, Saxena demonstrates the dedication and skills that it takes to be a successful driver of innovation. Since its founding in 2014, ShipBob has grown from operating out of Saxena’s Chicago apartment to thousands of square feet of warehouse space across the country.
September 4, 2024
ShipBob Expands Into Two New State-of-the-Art Facilities in the Midwest and Southwest, More Than Tripling Space of Previous Innovation Centers
ShipBob announced the move into two new state-of-the-art facilities located in North Aurora, Illinois and Fort Worth, Texas. These sites, referred to as ShipBob Innovation Centers, are each greater than 250,000 square feet in size and serve as the inventory receiving hubs within their respective regions that feed into ShipBob’s nearby spoke sites, which primarily focus on fulfilling direct-to-consumer and retail orders quickly.
August 28, 2024
Two in three Australian brands are looking abroad to scale up. Here’s why
For a mature market of 25 million consumers, many Australian retailers and brands are beginning to look offshore for growth – a path that offers tremendous opportunity but can come with daunting challenges. Global e-commerce logistics provider ShipBob recently released its Global State of Fulfillment Report, which suggests that 36 per cent of brands internationally will ship to new countries this year.
August 15, 2024
ShipBob Announces Section 321 Fulfillment from Both Canada & Mexico Fulfillment Centers
ShipBob today announced that three of its fulfillment centers near Toronto, Canada and one in Tijuana, Mexico are now fulfilling Section 321-compliant orders bound for consumers in the U.S. By leveraging the United States’ Section 321 entry type, merchants shipping high-tariff goods can reduce paperwork required to import, speed up delivery times to U.S. consumers, and ultimately save money on both transportation and duties.
August 13, 2024
Inc. 5000 2024: Meet the Companies Building the Future
ShipBob made the Inc 5000 list for the sixth consecutive year.
June 12, 2024
Chicago’s fastest-growing companies for 2024
Here are Chicago’s fastest-growing companies for 2024. No. 13: ShipBob
June 11, 2024
ShipBob Announces Adobe Commerce Integration & Becomes an Adobe Technology Partner at the Gold Level
ShipBob announced the launch of an Adobe Commerce integration, which enables merchants to fulfill Adobe Commerce orders via ShipBob. As a fulfillment partner in Adobe’s Technology Partner Program at the Gold level, ShipBob will provide scalable logistics solutions to Adobe Commerce merchants.
May 2, 2024
ShipBob Adds Gail Goodman, Former CEO of Constant Contact, to Board
ShipBob announced that Gail Goodman has joined the ShipBob Board of Directors. Goodman brings years of public company executive and board experience to ShipBob, having spent 17 years as CEO of Constant Contact, the trusted provider of online marketing tools for small businesses and nonprofits, including during its 8 years as a public company. Goodman has also served on the Board of Shopify since 2016 and currently serves on the Boards of Jobber and Entrepreneurship for All.
April 30, 2024
2024 Y Combinator Top Companies
We’re excited to announce the 2024 YC Top Companies list! This list features the YC alumni with the highest revenue in 2023 (sorted alphabetically, as revenue is confidential for most startups). Revenue is the clearest indicator of a startup’s success, and we’re excited to see so many different types of companies represented.
April 25, 2024
ShipBob Named Overall Fulfillment Solution of the Year 2024 by the Tech BreakThrough Awards
ShipBob was announced as the winner of “Overall Fulfillment Solution of the Year 2024” by The RetailTech Breakthrough Awards.
April 10, 2024
ShipBob Adds First Fulfillment Center in Western Canada to Global Logistics Network
ShipBob today announced the opening of its latest fulfillment center in British Columbia. This new location marks the first in ShipBob’s network’s to be in Western Canada and the fifth for ShipBob in Canada. Located in Surrey, B.C., the fulfillment center is just outside of Vancouver.
April 4, 2024
FT ranking: The Americas’ Fastest-Growing Companies 2024
The FT is pleased to announce its fifth annual ranking of the fastest-growing companies in the Americas, covering a period that took in the pandemic and the end of rock-bottom interest rates. No. 94: ShipBob.
April 3, 2024
ShipBob Levels Up FreightBob Solution with Partnerships through Maersk and ECU Worldwide
ShipBob today announced the addition of two new freight partners, Maersk and ECU Worldwide, to its end-to-end managed freight and inventory distribution program, FreightBob.
March 5, 2024
America’s Best Startup Employers by Forbes
To create the list, Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to identify 3,000 privately-held companies headquartered in the U.S. that employ more than 50 people and were founded between 2014 and 2021. Then, the companies were evaluated on three primary criteria: company reputation, employee satisfaction and growth. Ultimately, millions of data points were used to determine the company scores, and the 500 startups with the highest scores made our final ranking of America’s Best Startup Employers 2024 (see below).
February 1, 2024
ShipBob Adds First Independent Board Member, Former CEO of Grubhub, Adam DeWitt
ShipBob announced that Adam DeWitt has joined the ShipBob Board of Directors as its first independent member. DeWitt most recently spent twelve years at Grubhub as CFO, then President and ultimately CEO. During his tenure, Grubhub grew from $20 million in revenue to more than $2 billion. Prior to Grubhub, DeWitt served as CFO at optionsXpress until its sale to Charles Schwab in 2011. He also sits on the Board of Directors for RB Global (NYSE: RBA) and TreeHouse Foods (NYSE: THF) and was on the Board of Directors of Reverb.com prior to its sale to Etsy.
January 17, 2024
ShipBob Unveils Its Third Annual State of Ecommerce Fulfillment Report
ShipBob released its third annual State of Ecommerce Fulfillment report based on ShipBob’s proprietary data across thousands of customers, as well as survey submissions from over 500 ecommerce executives, who cumulatively shipped hundreds of millions of units in 2023.
December 13, 2023
Holiday delivery deadlines: What shoppers need to know
Live from one of ShipBob’s Chicago area fulfillment centers, CNBC’s Courtney Reagan joins ‘Squawk Box’ with more the looming holiday delivery deadlines.
November 27, 2023
Record Cyber Monday sales expected
CNBC’s Courtney Reagan joins ‘Power Lunch’ to report on the holiday weekend retail sales and expectations for Cyber Monday, featuring data from ShipBob.
November 7, 2023
TikTok Is Bringing Logistics to the E-Commerce Dance
TikTok, the viral video-sharing platform, is betting heavily on logistics as it tries to turn its outsize streaming audience into a big share of the U.S. e-commerce market. TikTok is breaking from Amazon’s approach by outsourcing the logistics operations. The company is striking deals with logistics providers including ShipBob to store inventory and pick, pack and ship online orders. Those companies will then drop the packages into private delivery networks for delivery.
October 19, 2023
Direct Commerce UK Announces Winners of the 2023 Industry Awards
ShipBob was named as a winner at the UK Direct Commerce Awards. The award was presented to ShipBob in the fulfillment, delivery and logistics category.
October 18, 2023
ShipBob Hires Ex-Google VP, Catherine Lacavera, as Chief Legal Officer
ShipBob today announced the hiring of Catherine Lacavera as its first Chief Legal Officer. Lacavera joins ShipBob with over 20 years of experience building and leading successful legal and compliance teams, including having spent over 16 years at Google, where she oversaw global litigation, employment and regulatory investigations, and managed more than 300 attorneys and technical advisors.
September 27, 2023
ShipBob Partners With TikTok to Power “Fulfilled by TikTok” Logistics Solution in the US
ShipBob has partnered with TikTok to power ‘Fulfilled by TikTok,’ a logistics program. Brands, merchants, and creators selling on TikTok Shop can leverage ShipBob’s AI-driven fulfillment engine, network of fulfillment centers, and expertise to unlock nationwide inventory storage, best-in-class order fulfillment, and quick shipping. When customers place an order with a participating seller on TikTok Shop, the order is picked, packed, and shipped by ShipBob.
July 20, 2023
Ex-Amazon Exec Brings Inventory Obsession to ShipBob
Melissa Nick started a new role at ShipBob last month but she didn’t leave the customer obsession she learned at Amazon far behind. With 70 percent revenue growth and more than 100 million orders shipped through its network, ShipBob will double down on inventory placement under Nick, the omnichannel fulfillment platform’s first chief supply chain officer.
July 11, 2023
Amazon Prime Day will be a ‘bellwether’ for 2023 holiday shopping
“Delivery times are important, especially with certain products, and the way to do that is by getting the inventory as close to the customer as possible,” said ShipBob chief supply chain officer Melissa Nick, formerly Amazon’s VP of North America fulfillment. “How do you make sure there aren’t swimsuits in Minnesota all year but there in summer when you want them?… It’s a benefit to both customers and the companies when delivery is fast, driving down costs.”
June 27, 2023
ShipBob Taps Former Amazon Exec, Takes E-Commerce Services to Stores
Nick was most recently Amazon’s vice president of North America customer fulfillment, leading operations, planning and engineering teams across more than 250 fulfillment centers. At ShipBob, she said, she will focus on helping retailers place inventory as close to consumers as possible to cut shipping costs, speed delivery and fulfill orders through multiple distribution channels.
June 27, 2023
E-commerce fulfillment startup ShipBob snags new chief supply chain officer from Amazon
ShipBob is an e-commerce fulfillment startup that picks and packs orders for online sellers. The company has hired Amazon alum, Melissa Nick, as Its first-ever chief supply chain officer. Nick told Insider that Amazon executives join logistics startups because they like to build.
June 27, 2023
ShipBob Hires Amazon’s VP of North America Fulfillment, Melissa Nick, as Chief Supply Chain Officer
ShipBob today announced the hiring of Melissa Nick as its first Chief Supply Chain Officer. Melissa joins ShipBob with over 20 years of experience with the last 9+ years at Amazon, most recently serving as Amazon’s VP of North America Customer Fulfillment where she led operations, planning, and engineering teams across more than 250 fulfillment centers.
June 27, 2023
Inaugural YC Top Companies List by Revenue
Today we’re publishing a list that recognizes the companies in the YC community that achieved the highest net revenue throughout 2022, presented in alphabetical order. Congratulations to everyone on the inaugural YC Top Companies List by Revenue!
June 15, 2023
The new Fast 50: Here are Chicago’s fastest-growing companies for 2023
No. 15: ShipBob. 5-year growth: 2,173.5%. E-commerce was not the ubiquitous industry it is today back when Divey Gulati and Dhruv Saxena started ShipBob in 2014. But the intervening years have given the co-founders time to perfect the complicated logistics of running an omnichannel fulfillment platform — which they mastered just in time for the e-commerce boom. Fast-forward to today, and ShipBob now serves 5,000 customers through its network of 26 fulfillment centers across five countries.
June 14, 2023
ShipBob launches in the Netherlands
Global fulfillment platform ShipBob is expanding to the Netherlands with the launch of a fulfillment center. The new fulfillment center is the company’s fifth European location. The company expects to start shipping parcels from the new location in July.
March 30, 2023
America’s Most Innovative Companies 2023
ShipBob ranked #1 in Culture and #1 in Process in the tech industry among the list of Fortune’s Most Innovative Companies 2023.
February 27, 2023
Top Private YC Companies – 2023
Since 2005, YC has funded over 4,000 startups, including many that have become household names. Discover the top private, public, and exited companies that are part of the YC community here. No. 46: ShipBob.
November 23, 2022
ShipBob unveils its first fulfilment centre in Sydney
Global ecommerce fulfilment solution and tech unicorn, ShipBob has opened a new fulfilment centre at Yennora in western Sydney. ShipBob’s first fulfilment in New South Wales and second in Australia, expands the company’s footprint for ecommerce brands that want to outsource shipping logistics.
November 21, 2022
Chain Reaction: ShipBob’s Dhruv Saxena on Improving Logistics and Lowering Costs
Chain Reaction is Sourcing Journal’s discussion series with industry executives to get their take on today’s logistics challenges and learn about ways their company is working to keep the flow of goods moving. Here, Dhruv Saxena, CEO & co-founder of ShipBob, discusses how the company handles receiving, inventory storage, order processing, picking, packing, shipping and returns for thousands of brands across the globe.
November 16, 2022
2022 Technology Fast 500 winners
2022 Technology Fast 500™ Rankings showcase the fastest-growing technology and
life sciences companies in North America.
October 26, 2022
ShipBob launches Amazon fulfillment service for e-commerce merchants
Global omnichannel fulfillment platform ShipBob has launched a new fulfillment option for online sellers that streamlines the process by which inventory is entered into Amazon’s network for delivery. The Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) Prep Automation service prepares and sends ShipBob merchants’ FBA inventory to Amazon for faster placement, allowing them to use ShipBob as their centralized inventory hub.
October 4, 2022
Why Chicago Is Home To The Future Of Logistics Tech
Mark Tebbe, Chair of World Business Chicago’s Innovation & Venture Council, elaborates further: “Chicago’s logistics tech sector represents a core aspect of our innovation and startup ecosystem. We’re home to some of the best founders who are driving innovation and solving some of the world’s most significant challenges when it comes to supply chain, logistics, and distribution.”
August 3, 2022
ShipBob CEO and Co-Founder, Dhruv Saxena, Featured on The CEO Series
Dhruv Saxena was featured on The CEO Series, a series highlighting Chicago’s top founders and executives. While touring ShipBob’s Cicero fulfillment center, Dhruv discusses ShipBob’s humble beginngings, goals for the future, and more.
July 27, 2022
ShipBob Removes Some Complexity from International Orders
ShipBob is offering a new solution to merchants who use its fulfillment service designed to simplify some of the complexities of international selling while reducing customs delays. ShipBob’s Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) solution is designed to eliminate surprise fees and long delays experienced by international customers, which also has the benefit of reducing customer service inquiries.
July 7, 2022
ShipBob announces WMS for e-commerce brands with their own warehouses
For e-commerce brands that may own or lease warehouse space but lack the resources for full-fledged warehouse management systems, ShipBob has released a solution. Its WMS is a stand-alone warehouse management system (WMS) that helps these merchants benefit from a fulfillment operations platform while benefiting from ShipBob’s global network. The solution provides access to ShipBob’s carrier infrastructure, support team and fulfillment experts. In addition, brands using the WMS also gain access to ShipBob’s suite of supply chain tools and access to ShipBob’s warehouse network in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia.
July 3, 2022
Logistics tech player ShipBob opens Dublin warehousing hub
ShipBob, a logistics tech company backed by Softbank, has opened a fulfilment centre (packing warehouse) in Dublin. The Chicago-headquartered company, which is valued at over $1bn (€950m), opened the facility in Blanchardstown as part of its growing presence in Europe.
June 30, 2022
Kristen Bell Narrates Children’s Book To Remind People There Is Still A War In Ukraine
While Yumi has played a large role in the formation of Operation Sunflower by bringing on more than a dozen direct to consumer brands, the project came to fruition through the leadership of Frazer Kinsley, the logistics expert behind Kinsley Partners and an angel investor. Together with Geodis and ShipBob, leaders in the world of global transport who committed to assistance with freight and freight costs, Operation Sunflower is now one of the only wholly-civilian supply lines bringing aid directly into Ukraine from the Polish border.
June 16, 2022
ShipBob announces integration with customer platform Klaviyo
Omnichannel fulfillment platform ShipBob has announced an integration with customer platform Klaviyo. The direct integration will give joint customers of the companies a unified post-purchase and shipping experience, ShipBob said. Klaviyo’s platform collect all of a company’s customer data as it is updated in real time and makes that information accessible in the same platform used for sending email and SMS messages. Integrated with ShipBob’s platform, the new offering will lead to new opportunities for customer engagement, ShipBob said.
May 20, 2022
Fulfillment Platform ShipBob Launches Freight Transportation Solution FreightBob Opens New Facility in Europe
ShipBob is offering a new freight transportation solution called FreightBob, a week after ShipBob announced it is opening its first fulfillment center in mainland Europe. Dhruv Saxena, CEO and Co-Founder of ShipBob, joins Cheddar News’ Closing Bell to discuss.
April 6, 2022
Huge opportunities for ecommerce brands brave enough to diversify: ShipBob’s Enda Breslin
Enda Breslin is General Manager EMEA of ShipBob, a tech-enabled third-party logistics platform that fulfils orders for ecommerce businesses. Launched in 2014, the company gives brands the analytics to track and ship stock globally. I caught up with Enda to find out more about his role. We also discussed the biggest challenges (and opportunities) for ecommerce brands, as well as the evolution of the ecommerce industry.
April 5, 2022
FT ranking: The Americas’ Fastest-Growing Companies 2022
The third annual FT ranking of The Americas’ Fastest-Growing Companies captures the resilience of businesses as they adapted to the initial onslaught of the Covid pandemic, in 2020. No. 105: ShipBob.
March 31, 2022
Why ‘free’ shipping isn’t free
“Anyone can offer an Amazon Prime two-day shipping. It’s just the cost that…might incur in providing that service,” Dhruv Saxena, co-founder of third-party logistics company ShipBob, told CNBC. He estimates it may cost a company anywhere from $25 to $35 for a typical two-day shipping rate.
March 15, 2022
The Retail Tech 100: The top retail tech companies of 2022
The Retail Tech 100 is CB Insights’ annual ranking of the 100 most promising B2B retail tech companies in the world. A few of the companies target the needs of small online businesses, whose fulfillment needs continue to grow with the acceleration of e-commerce growth. ShipBob, for instance, serves direct-to-consumer brands with its fulfillment and shipping network.
March 3, 2022
Survey Says More Brands Expanding to Global Fulfillment This Year
Supply chain headwinds and disruptions may have been the talk of the retail industry in 2021, but that’s not stopping brands from trying to extend their global ambitions. Approximately 56 percent of brands plan to either ship or fulfill orders from new countries in 2022, according to a recent report from omnichannel fulfillment platform ShipBob.
January 6, 2022
Small retailers crave Amazon and Walmart’s power to avoid supply chain chaos. Logistics startups have discovered a new way to help them out.
ShipBob is an e-commerce fulfillment startup with more than $300 million in funding from SoftBank and Bain Capital Ventures, among others. It provides software, warehousing, and packing and shipping services to small online sellers. In October, it started piloting a program to help online sellers get goods from China to the US ahead of Black Friday, at the request of anxious sellers concerned that low inventories would jeopardize their sales. “These big retailers like Amazon’s of the world — they’ve figured out a way by basically getting their own charter flights or their ocean liners and containers to get inventory from China into their US fulfillment centers,” ShipBob founder and CEO Dhruv Saxena told Insider. Batching small sellers’ goods together to create a full container helps ShipBob get space on ships to do the same.
December 30, 2021
Retailers brace for the holiday return rush—Here’s how it works
’Tis the season for holiday returns. As shoppers buy more and more stuff online, retailers are increasingly offering “returnless” refunds. CNBC’s Courtney Reagan explains why the “just keep it” strategy actually benefits retailers. Featuring ShipBob CEO, Dhruv Saxena.
December 30, 2021
Investors Are Piling Into Supply-Chain Technology
An investment rush into logistics technology is creating a herd of unicorns in the race to digitize operations at the center of the world’s supply-chain gridlock. Newly minted unicorns, or companies that exceed $1 billion valuations, in the logistics sector in 2021 include e-commerce fulfillment specialist ShipBob Inc., digital warehouse.
November 24, 2021
Good Luck Trying to Fix the Supply Chain Crisis
“Any one of the issues that led to this would have caused problems,” says Enda Breslin of ShipBob, a global fulfillment firm. “But all of them put together have caused these massive issues we’re hearing about right now.” The ramifications are enormous, from spiking prices for Christmas presents to a run on Black Friday bargains, empty supermarket shelves, nonexistent car sales, and a frantic grab for the shipping containers usually used to pack and send items around the globe.
November 11, 2021
ShipBob Launches B2B Fulfillment Suite with EDI Compliance for B2B Distribution & Retail Dropshipping for Brick-and-Mortar & Online Retail Sales
ShipBob announced the launch of their B2B Fulfillment Suite and new API capabilities, enabling their merchants to sell throughout the entire B2B ecosystem, powering retail dropshipping and wholesale shipping, which will connect with hundreds of major retailers.
November 8, 2021
US e-commerce unicorn ShipBob announces European expansion; to open 5 fulfilment centres in 2022
US cloud-based logistics unicorn ShipBob helps SME brands compete with Amazon by giving them cheaper and faster deliveries. In a recent development, the company has announced a major European expansion wherein it will open 20 fulfilment centres as it looks to uncover the next unicorn consumer brands in the UK and capitalise on the continued e-commerce surge.
November 8, 2021
The upstarts snapping at Amazon’s heels in UK’s online delivery wars
Awash with fresh cash, the newcomers are fanning out across the UK and the Continent, in a bid to match Amazon’s scale and reach. Enda Breslin, ShipBob’s European boss, says the expansion comes off the back of huge demand for online deliveries during the pandemic, when many businesses became far more reliant on internet sales amid store closures.
October 27, 2021
Why ShipBob Is Quickly Becoming The Best E-Commerce Fulfillment Service
Fast forward from 2014 to 2021. The ShipBob founders are realizing their vision. Their platform empowers thousands of merchants with a single view of their businesses across all of their sales channels, products, inventory, orders, and shipments, which allows them to leverage analytics and reporting to run their businesses effectively. By creating a platform that takes the pressure of fulfillment off the shoulders of entrepreneurs, ShipBob helps them reach their goals. And those goals are as unique as each of the thousands of ShipBob customers. Their stories highlight the value of the platform ShipBob has built.
September 24, 2021
1871 Announces the Winners of the 14th Annual Momentum Awards
1871’s first hybrid Momentum Awards honors seven distinguished individuals and companies for their contributions and commitment to the Chicago technology and innovation community. The CityLIGHTS Award was presented to ShipBob as a beacon in the Chicago tech community.
September 16, 2021
ShipBob Expands Platform Ahead of Holiday Shopping
Global eCommerce fulfillment startup ShipBob announced that it has added a new customization suite for gift notes and kitting, an integration with eCommerce customer service platform Gorgias, and an integration with commerce solution Linnworks in its latest software update. ShipBob customers can now add customer sender names to shipping labels and use custom boxes, poly mailers and inserts in direct-to-consumer orders.
August 17, 2021
Introducing the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America
Explore Inc.’s annual ranking of the private companies with the most proven track records.
No. 683: ShipBob.
July 10, 2021
Soaring warehouse demand boosts commercial real estate market as office vacancies mount
After ShipBob decided last July to let staffers work from anywhere, the logistics start-up had its landlord erect a wall in the middle of its Chicago headquarters so half the space could be rented out to another company. On March 1, the office reopened at reduced capacity for socially distanced meetings. But while it’s using less office space, ShipBob’s real estate needs have been expanding at a breakneck pace. The company, which provides fulfillment services to online retailers, has more than doubled its warehouse count since mid-2020 to 24 locations today, including four outside the U.S., with plans to reach 35 by the end of 2021.
July 7, 2021
ShipBob Launches First Australia-Based Fulfillment Center in Melbourne
ShipBob expands its fulfillment network into its fifth country to more efficiently reach consumers in Australia, as well as four new domestic sites in the United States.
July 1, 2021
YC Top Companies
Here is a list of the top Y Combinator companies by valuation and top exits as of July 2021. No. 35: ShipBob.
July 1, 2021
Why Chicago May Be The Best City To Find A Tech Job
The city of Chicago is uniting to attract the tech talent needed to power a herd of rapidly growing unicorns – nine this year already – and a region full of established companies accelerating their digital transformation, such as Allstate and Caterpillar. Chicago is on a record pace for startups achieving valuation of at least $1 billion this year. ShipBob, the latest startup to achieve unicorn status, announced Tuesday that it raised a $200M Series E round that values the company over a billion.
June 29, 2021
Bain’s leadership of a $200 million investment in ShipBob is a bet that all e-commerce businesses are hungry for same-day shipping to compete with Amazon
Bain Capital Ventures has led two rounds of investment for e-commerce fulfillment startup ShipBob. The startup aims to provide Amazon-equivalent online order fulfillment for companies of all sizes. ShipBob will boot up around 10 new warehouses in the US and Europe this year. Bain partner Ajay Agarwal told Insider the size of this influx is related to the size of the market and the crucial milestones ShipBob has reached in the last year.
June 29, 2021
ShipBob nabs $200M at a $1B+ valuation to help e-commerce companies run logistics like Amazon’s
E-commerce saw a massive surge of activity and growth in 2020; and while we may hear a lot about how big companies like Amazon got even bigger during the Covid-19 pandemic, that rising tide also lifted a lot of smaller boats. And that, in turn, has had a big impact on the wider e-commerce ecosystem. In the latest development, ShipBob, which has built an operation and tech platform that today works with some 5,000 e-commerce businesses to run shipping and logistics like their bigger rivals, has raised $200 million.
June 29, 2021
Logistics Company ShipBob Raises $200 Million
ShipBob Inc., a company that helps small and midsize e-commerce companies fulfill orders, has reached a valuation of more than $1 billion with its latest round of funding. The company’s $200 million Series E funding round—led by Bain Capital Ventures—comes nearly a year after the company announced a $68 million Series D round. That round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. With the current round, ShipBob has raised $330.5 million.
June 11, 2021
Crain’s Fast 50 2021: Here are the fast growing companies in Chicago
No. 5: ShipBob. Throughout the 2020 pandemic year, e-commerce gained momentum as malls and retail stores everywhere went into lockdown. That only drove more business to ShipBob, which is rapidly expanding around the country as a significant shipping alternative to Amazon. Online shopping rose at least 20 percent amid COVID-19; ShipBob’s revenue doubled in 2020.
June 9, 2021
Logistics Providers See E-Commerce Momentum Continuing Post-Pandemic
Chicago-based e-commerce fulfillment provider ShipBob has added 10 facilities this year, for a total of 24 sites in the U.S. and Europe, and could add up to 10 more by the end of the year, said Chief Marketing Officer Casey Armstrong. “We see this buying behavior in the U.S. and internationally as the new norm,” he said.
May 27, 2021
ShipBob adds free 2-day shipping for Walmart Marketplace sellers
E-commerce logistics company ShipBob is now able to fulfill two-day shipping for sellers using the Walmart Marketplace.
May 27, 2021
ShipBob Partners with Walmart to Enable 100% 2-Day Shipping Coverage for Ecommerce Brands
ShipBob today announced its official partnership with Walmart and is listed as a shipping and fulfillment solution for Walmart’s marketplace sellers. As a new 3PL participating in the Walmart’s TwoDay delivery program, ShipBob integrates with Walmart Marketplace to display Free 2-day delivery badging and fulfill 2-day orders for approved Walmart Marketplace sellers.
May 24, 2021
Making fulfillment more sustainable
Offsetting emissions becomes even more critical as businesses grow, says Casey Armstrong, chief marketing officer at ShipBob, which is working to make its fulfillment network carbon neutral. “As ShipBob continues to grow and become a larger global company, our impact on the Earth is more noticeable,” Armstrong says.
April 21, 2021
ShipBob offers carbon offsets for e-commerce brands through Pachama
E-commerce fulfillment company ShipBob is the latest to jump into the carbon offset business. The company, with 16 global facilities, will utilize Pachama to provide 100% carbon-neutral options for brands using the ShipBob platform.
April 13, 2021
FT ranking: The Americas’ fastest-growing companies 2021
The second annual FT Americas ranking offers a snapshot of the relative strength of companies as they entered the Covid pandemic — and points to those likely to have the resilience to emerge from the crisis in good health. No. 60: ShipBob
April 2, 2021
The retailer vs. brand battle has never been more intense
The battle between brands and retailers is not new, but it’s more acute than ever because of the options each side has. For brands, it’s never been easier to own and operate sales channels both online and IRL. Shopify, ShipBob and other e-commerce technology providers paired with logistics partners gives brands of all sizes the ability to create formidable online sales channels.
April 1, 2021
ShipBob Joins Shopify Plus as Certified App Partner for Order Fulfillment & Ecommerce Shipping
ShipBob today announced it achieved official Shopify Plus Certified App Partner status. With hundreds of Shopify Plus merchants already shipping millions of orders through ShipBob’s fulfillment network, becoming an official certified partner will deepen the relationship and open up ShipBob’s advanced technology and customization of fulfillment to even more Plus merchants.
March 16, 2021
Brands are killing the wholesale model — can they kill retailers too?
For a long time, brands depended on Amazon to sell their products online. And until very recently, the idea of smaller retailers competing with Amazon online was laughable. But e-commerce technology providers and logistics companies have flipped the script. It may be a surprise, but mom-and-pop shops can now run online stores that compare very well to Amazon’s offerings. Store inventory and fulfill orders with ShipBob.
March 16, 2021
Inc. 5000 Regionals: Midwest 2021 – The Top 250 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in the Midwest
No.47: ShipBob. An e-commerce logistics technology company that provides fast shipping by helping merchants distribute their inventory more effectively.
March 11, 2021
After pumping $11 billion into e-commerce in 5 years, VCs are finally funding the risky warehousing startups they’ve been avoiding
When Dhruv Saxena first started fundraising for his startup ShipBob in 2014, he knew that finding the right investors was just as important as funding his startup at all. Seven years later, his most recent round was led by SoftBank with Y Combinator, Menlo Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Hyde Park Ventures in tow. Saxena founded ShipBob with the intention of seizing on a particular segment of e-commerce businesses.
March 10, 2021
ShipBob Launches as Global Fulfillment Partner for Square Online Sellers as ShipBob Surpasses Their 25 Millionth Shipment
ShipBob today announced its partnership with Square Online. This partnership will enable millions of Square sellers to offer fast and affordable shipping to their customer base.
March 9, 2021
The 10 most innovative logistics companies of 2021
This year’s most innovative logistics companies offered clever solutions to the numerous, unforeseeable problems of moving product in 2020—from managing returns by mail, to reallocating trucking contracts from lagging to busy businesses, to helping small companies ship product as quickly as Amazon Prime. While much of the world paused, these companies kept our essential goods moving quickly and safely.
Number 8: ShipBob
March 9, 2021
ShipBob boosts UK, US ground capacity for e-commerce shippers
ShipBob is adding capacity to its fulfillment network and boosting its delivery options by building out a last-mile delivery network for e-commerce customers.
March 5, 2021
SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son spent $100 billion building an interconnected tech empire.
Dhruv Saxena, CEO of SoftBank-backed ecommerce fulfiller ShipBob, told Bloomberg TV in September that SoftBank’s large network set it apart when his firm was considering various potential investors. “SoftBank has a portfolio of companies all across the world. As we think about expanding our fulfillment network abroad, having relationships in those SoftBank portfolio companies stood out to us.”
March 4, 2021
ShipBob Launches First UK-Based Fulfillment Center in London, England
ShipBob expands its fulfillment network with a third international location to more efficiently reach consumers in the United Kingdom, as well as two new domestic sites in the United States, bringing the total global network count to 16 facilities.
January 12, 2021
YC Top Companies 2021
Here is a list of the top Y Combinator companies by valuation and top exits as of January 2021. Number 46: ShipBob.
December 15, 2020
US parcel carriers score high on reliability despite volume surge
Average transit times, based on shipping data from ShipBob, an e-commerce fulfillment provider, are trending up week-over-week for FedEx and USPS for the week ended Dec. 5. Weekly average transit times ticked upward for the week ended Dec 5 for FedEx and USPS, according to data compiled by ShipBob. Average transit time for FedEx was 4.23 days, up from 3.60 days for the week ended Nov 28, while USPS average transit time increased to 4.59 days from 4.15 days. UPS’ average transit time declined from 3.76 days to 3.25 days for the week ended Dec 5.
December 14, 2020
Crain’s 2020 Notable Rising Stars in Tech
These 25 up-and-comers are making a mark in Chicago-area technology. A number are entrepreneurs starting companies using technology to offer innovative products and services. These stars are contributing to Chicago’s profile as an emerging technology center. Featured: Dhruv Saxena, CEO of ShipBob.
November 18, 2020
2020 Technology Fast 500™ awards: The fastest-growing technology companies in North America
ShipBob placed #116 on the Deloitte 2020 Technology Fast 500™ list of the fastest-growing companies in North America with a 1,029% growth rate.
November 6, 2020
Meet the Blazer winners from our 2020 Inno on Fire
Yesterday, the Chicago tech community gathered together—virtually, of course—for Chicago Inno’s 2020 Inno on Fire, our annual event that recognizes the people and companies that are working to move Chicago tech forward. This year’s Inno Blazers are: B2B: ShipBob. Chicago startup ShipBob helps small companies ship their products more efficiently. To support its growth, the startup raised $68 million in a Series D round of funding in September.
October 9, 2020
50 reasons to feel cautiously optimistic about Chicago
The No. 1 company on Crain’s latest list of Chicago’s fastest-growing companies is the sort that represents everything that has made Chicago great—and which could continue to make this a vital place to live and work in the future, if this region plays its cards right.That company is ShipBob, a logistics-technology and shipping services provider that helps small and midsize businesses get their wares to customers quickly and efficiently.
October 9, 2020
Fast 50 company list 2020
ShipBob takes the number 1 spot for fastest-growing company in Chicago with an 83,384% growth rate over the last 5 years.
October 7, 2020
How Outsourcing Logistics Can Help SMBs Compete With Amazon
Saxena said his company is disrupting the existing order of online shopping within the connected economy by democratizing access to best-in-class logistics. “Our customers are actually direct-to-consumer eCommerce brands,” he said. “These brands just by definition are going directly to their customers, using their own storefront [and] own channels.”
October 5, 2020
2020 INNO ON FIRE: 50 people and companies heating up Chicago tech
As one of Chicago’s most notable logistics startups, ShipBob helps small companies ship their products more efficiently. To support its growth, the startup raised $68 million in a Series D round of funding in September. ShipBob says it currently has 10 fulfillment centers across the United States, Canada and Europe. The company opened six new fulfillment centers since April, including two international locations, and it expects to open two more U.S. facilities in the fourth quarter, and another 10 facilities across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia in 2021.
September 28, 2020
‘Bloomberg Technology’ Full Show (09/28/2020)
Watch CEO Dhruv Saxena as a guest on ‘Bloomberg Technology’ with Emily Chang at the 40-minute mark.
September 28, 2020
E-Commerce Surge Draws Investment to Online Retail Logistics Providers
Outsourced fulfillment specialist ShipBob raises $68 million in funding from investors including Softbank’s Vision Fund.
August 25, 2020
Despite COVID-19, 5 Chicago VCs say region is poised for success
Chicago has a long history of creating industry-leading companies and it doesn’t seem COVID-19 is slowing down the city. TechCrunch surveyed Chicago venture capitalists who remain optimistic despite the current crisis. Chicago has always been a logistics hub and is now becoming a logistics tech hub with companies like FourKites, ShipBob and Forager. COVID has significantly slowed down the growth of most startups while aiding a small few. There are some logistics startups (FourKites, ShipBob, Forager) that have come out on top.
Read more on TechCrunch.
August 18, 2020
Changing Channels: Prepping Brick-and-Mortar Merchandise for Online Sales
According to Todd Bills, chief logistics officer at ShipBob, the company’s receiving team inspects goods and takes photos to ensure that there is a match with what was expected. If multiple fulfillment centers are available, a retailer needs to consider where to house its inventory. For instance, a SKU that sells well in a certain region might warrant a greater stock in that location. Proper labeling also helps to ensure that the correct SKU is sent, since picking and packing typically relies on scanning for verification.
August 12, 2020
Introducing the 5,000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America
Explore Inc.’s annual ranking of the private companies with the most proven track records.
No. 441: ShipBob with 1,040% growth.
July 11, 2020
3 Ways Digital Commerce And Tech Booms, As Quarantine Looms
Some digital trends e-commerce giant ShipBob is seeing are:
- Toys and games shipments are up 66.51% month over month.
- After being relatively stable in early 2020, beauty products have seen a big spike since mid-March, noting 64.57% month over month.
- Unsurprisingly, fitness product sales benefited from the stay-at-home orders, and orders are up 112.23% month over month.
April 20, 2020
Ecommerce Entrepreneurship Grows as Unemployment Rises
Other ecommerce service providers, like third-party logistics company ShipBob, are providing real-time data on shipping trends. Using the ecommerce companies that use their fulfillment centers, they are able to categorize these products into niches like beauty and fitness to see which ones are trending. As their data shows, fitness sales from their customers has grown by more than 51 percent month over month, whereas their jewelry customers are down 39 percent over the same stretch.
April 6, 2020
FT ranking: the Americas’ fastest-growing companies
ShipBob ranks #37 on Financial Times’ The Americas’ Fastest Growing Companies 2020, which highlights 500 businesses across the continent for whom innovation and creativity have paid off — attributes that will underpin resilience and enable many of them to thrive once the worst effects of the pandemic are behind them.
March 29, 2020
Logistics Firms Endeavor to Keep Goods Moving as Much of Economy Shuts Down
E-commerce fulfillment provider ShipBob said it set up coronavirus safety measures at its seven fulfillment centers in early March. That includes handing out masks and gloves to staffers and requiring all visitors, including vendors and drivers, to put on personal protective gear to enter its facilities. Faced with a flood of orders for consumer goods, the company also has reconfigured its warehouse management system to have products like hand sanitizer ship out ahead of items deemed less essential. The company also extended paid sick days for employees and raised pay by $2 an hour.
March 25, 2020
The 250 Most Successful Companies in the Midwest
ShipBob ranks #28 on Inc.’s inaugural ranking of the fastest-growing companies in the Midwest.
March 2, 2020
31 Standout Brands Whose Resilience in the Face of Challenges Inspired Innovation
Best Fulfillment Technology: ShipBob. If a growth rate of 3,326% over the past three years sounds impressive, then be impressed by ShipBob. In 2019, the Chicago-based fulfillment provider supported more than 3,000 brands, which shipped millions of parcels to more than 100 countries around the globe, while doubling its fulfillment-center square footage. The firm’s proprietary warehouse management system helps it bring order to the increasingly complicated world of ecommerce, too.
February 12, 2020
Four Strategies Digitally Native Brands Can Use To Outsmart Amazon
When it comes to competing with Amazon for shipping, finding the right partner is critical—and it’s important to remember that your partnership options extend far beyond UPS or USPS. ShipBob lets retailers compete against the wildly popular two-day Prime shipping.
January 2, 2020
Is This The Beginning Of Amazon’s Meltdown?
Nike is only the tip of the iceberg. There’s a growing pack of retailers breaking ties with Amazon and launching their own online stores. Thanks to a new breed of tech companies, now you can easily farm out every step of the online store process—from shipping to returns and even one-day delivery. Here’s a quick rundown: store your inventory and fulfill orders with ShipBob.
December 19, 2019
Multichannel Merchant’s Top 3PLs 2020
Multichannel Merchant’s Top Third Party Logistics Services (Top 3PLs) online searchable database/directory is compiled by Multichannel Merchant’s editors and is for merchants looking for expert third-party ecommerce fulfillment and logistics services providers.
December 17, 2019
Imitating Amazon: E-Commerce Battle Bolstered by Companies Mimicking the Market Leader
Operators like ShipBob fulfill orders for direct-to-consumer brands through their own warehouses that help sellers put their inventory closer to customers for faster shipping. Chicago-based ShipBob has raised more than $60 million in funding rounds that have backed expansion of a budding network of warehouses from Pennsylvania to California. The company focuses on direct-to-consumer companies that want one- or two-day shipping, and it also fulfills Amazon orders.
November 29, 2019
The direct-to-consumer strategy is making a run at Amazon’s throne
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands are making a run at Amazon’s ecommerce dominance thanks in part to a growing ecosystem of companies. Startups like ShipBob, Affirm and Returnly are working with some of the most popular DTC brands. The DTC ecosystem could appeal to brands wary of giving up sensitive information to Amazon, a potential competitor.
November 27, 2019
Direct-to-consumer companies are trying to take on Amazon this holiday season
CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa takes a look at how direct-to-consumer stores are trying to take on Amazon for sales this holiday season, including partnering with ShipBob for warehousing and fulfillment.
November 12, 2019
12 Chicago Businesses Make Deloitte’s List of Fastest-Growing Tech Companies
Deloitte published its annual Fast 500 ranking last week, which ranked companies based on percentage of revenue growth over the last three years. Chicago startup ShipBob was the local company with the fastest growth, posting 2,550% revenue growth and coming in at No. 50 on the Fast 500 list. ShipBob, a startup that helps small and medium-sized e-commerce companies ship products with Amazon-like speeds, has raised more than $60 million in VC funding, including a $40 million round in 2018.
November 7, 2019
12 Chicago Companies Made the Deloitte Technology Fast 500
If you ever catch yourself awake at night wondering who the fastest-growing technology companies in Chicago might be, wait no longer. Unlike rankings like Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 ranking, which is limited to privately held companies, the Fast 500 includes both privately held and publicly traded companies. Here’s who made the list, and how much they’ve grown. First: ShipBob: 2,550 percent.
November 7, 2019
2019 Technology Fast 500™ awards: The fastest-growing technology companies in North America
No. 50: ShipBob, 2,550% growth. The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 is one of the most objective rankings for technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences, and energy tech companies. It was created to recognize the effort and dedication of the fastest-growing technology companies—both public and private—in North America. For the 25th year, we’re honoring the companies that define the cutting edge; transform the way we do business; combine technological innovation, entrepreneurship, and rapid growth; and disrupt the technology industry.
October 31, 2019
Google’s Holiday Shopping Report Points Retailers to 3 Key Areas to Focus On
Other data from ShipBob, a fulfillment company servicing brands like ZitSticka and Nature’s Ultra, points further to this trend, with five of the top 10 most active buying days occurring in November last year, the fourth most popular day being Oct. 30. This year, ShipBob expects the holiday season to fully kick in on Nov. 11. “People want those deals and people will procrastinate till they get there but people are also willing to go out there and willing to shop,” said Casey Armstrong, CMO of ShipBob. “Get creative and [figure out] how do you pull that buying season even earlier into November.”
October 2, 2019
These are the top Y Combinator companies of all time, based on valuation
The list provides some rather interesting insights into which of YC’s 2,000+ investments have grown the most, which have held strong over time and which sectors perform the best. YC says that all of the companies that made this year’s list are each currently valued at $150 million or more, with a cumulative valuation of $155 billion.
October 2, 2019
Y Combinator Top Companies List – 2019
Here is a list of the top Y Combinator companies by valuation as of October 2019. We also included YC’s top exits. We’re proud to know the founders behind these companies and be part of their stories.
October 1, 2019
How Companies Can Prepare for the Age of Sponsored Marketplaces
Nearly seven in 10 online shopping carts are abandoned, 26% of which are due to a cumbersome checkout experience. “A longer, more complicated checkout means more time and steps for potential customers to change their minds and abandon their online shopping carts,” explains ShipBob CEO Dhruv Saxena. Online shoppers don’t like being kicked around at checkout any more than people who call customer service like to be transferred.
September 16, 2019
ShipBob, a new e-commerce player, opens Moreno Valley warehouse and will hire at least 100 people
ShipBob, a relatively new player in the e-commerce fulfillment world, has opened its largest shipping facility in Moreno Valley. The Chicago-based company, founded by two entrepreneurs in 2014, specializes in shipping services for small- and medium-sized online retailers. The company recently began operations in a 185,000-square-foot distribution facility at 28010 Eucalyptus Ave.
September 12, 2019
ShipBob Opens Moreno Valley, CA Fulfillment Center Nearly 5 Times Larger Than Original SoCal Location and Opening 100 New Jobs
ShipBob announced the opening of its largest fulfillment center to-date in Moreno Valley, CA. At 185,000 square feet, the brand new state-of-the-art fulfillment center is nearly five times larger than the current Los Angeles location. This expansion will help ShipBob take on more customers, further streamline fulfillment, and bring next-day and 2-day shipping to ecommerce businesses. The new fulfillment center is in close proximity to both the Port of LA and Port of Long Beach, the top two busiest ports in all of the US for ecommerce.
August 27, 2019
Why Uber, Salesforce, And Other Tech Powerhouses Love Chicago
Chicago has witnessed a steady clip of major coastal-based technology companies setting up shop — and then expanding their presence — in the city. It’s not just the long-established tech giants that reap the benefits of having a coastal and Chicago presence, however. Newer companies have taken note and are doing the same, including e-commerce fulfillment platform ShipBob.
August 14, 2019
2019 Inc. 5000: The Most Successful Companies in America
Inc.’s annual guide to the 5,000 fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S.–and how they reached their lofty heights. No. 99: ShipBob. Growth: 3,326%
August 14, 2019
The 10 Hottest Startup Cities in America
There’s more to Chicago than harsh winters and deep-dish pizza: The city has a diverse and healthy business culture, in part prompting tech behemoths like Stripe, Salesforce, Google, and Facebook to build satellite offices there. Among this year’s fastest-growing Inc. 5000 businesses is e-commerce logistics company ShipBob (No. 99).
July 30, 2019
How retailers can survive the Amazon era
Most companies’ legacy infrastructure has challenges with easy tracking or visibility into existing inventory. A new wave of venture backed tech-enabled solutions that marries both technology and execution has emerged to address these issues. Take Shipwell (freight), Stord (warehousing), and Shipbob (fulfillment) for example — these solutions can provide end to end digitized offerings with the speed, reliability, and affordability that are vital to shipping operation teams.
July 24, 2019
EBay to Launch Shipping, Logistics Service for Big Sellers
EBay’s offering, known as Managed Delivery, will allow sellers in categories with fast-moving inventory such as electronics and fashion to offer their customers free shipping and faster delivery, eBay said, potentially boosting their sales. Sellers who qualify for the service will be able to tap into eBay-negotiated rates for overnight, two- and three-day shipping and use eBay-branded packaging. Buyers will also be able to track delivery of those packages. Such options are proliferating as startups such as e-commerce fulfillment company ShipBob vie with Amazon for consumer sales.
July 17, 2019
Pressure From Amazon May Be Forcing Retailers to Offer More Shipping Options, Says New Survey
If a shipper can accurately predict what is going to be purchased and where it will be sent, they can materially reduce their costs to fulfill an order by holding less inventory, closer to the customer, shipping it faster and at a lower price point.” Imagine the benefit for a merchant fulfilling out of Los Angeles, who knows their holiday orders will mostly come from the Northeast. “Instead of shipping everything via Ground at $15 per box (and taking 5 days), they can find space with a 3PL like ShipBob or others, in Pennsylvania, and offer next day arrival for 50% less.”
June 13, 2019
Meet the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2019 Midwest Award winners
Congratulations to the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2019 Midwest Award winners: Logistics and Supply Chain: Dhruv Saxena of ShipBob, Inc.
June 12, 2019
Why Online Shopping Is More Eco-Friendly Than Traditional Retail — Or at Least It Was
George Wojciechowski, co-founder of ShipBob, a fulfillment service that specializes in working with e-commerce brands, noted that companies are increasingly requesting more sustainable packing materials. “One of the worst things that companies do is they’ll use foam peanuts to create a layer of protection around the product,” he said, “whereas we use a machine that spits out recycled paper, which creates an amount of support — plus it’s recycled and it’s recyclable.”
June 7, 2019
Jobs Report Is Weak, With Gain of 75,000; Unemployment Rate Still 3.6%
The Chicago-based technology and logistics company ShipBob isn’t tiny — it has about 500 employees — but it has been hiring at a furious pace. The company helps online retailers offer two-day shipping — vital if they want to keep up with Amazon and other large retailers. It also offers systems that let clients track inventories and route orders to the nearest warehouses. In addition to hiring salaried employees at its Chicago headquarters, ShipBob has been recruiting hourly workers at five fulfillment centers.
May 7, 2019
ShipBob Opens Pennsylvania Fulfillment Center 3 Times Larger Than Original Northeast Location
ShipBob announced the opening of its largest fulfillment center to-date in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to further streamline fulfillment and bring next-day and 2-day shipping to ecommerce businesses. At 150,000 square feet, the brand new state-of-the-art fulfillment center is three times larger than the current New York location. As ShipBob’s largest fulfillment center in its entire US network, the new location will ship millions of units for thousands of customers this year.
April 23, 2019
Amazon Prime’s dominance is spurring new startup opportunities
As part of its complete transformation of the e-commerce landscape, Amazon has made two-day shipping the new industry standard — a standard which most would-be competitors can’t meet on their own without either investing millions in infrastructure or partnering with their greatest competitive threat. Fortunately for merchants, some exciting new logistics startups are emerging to help them compete with Amazon. Last-mile delivery companies like ShipBob, which recently closed a $40 million investment round, are also beginning to offer Amazon-like two-day shipping solutions.
March 20, 2019
ShipBob adds Wayfair, Ulta Beauty vets to head up supply chain, fulfillment
ShipBob, a technology company that streamlines fulfillment by bringing next-day and two-day shipping to ecommerce businesses, today announced the hiring of Todd Bills as their Senior Vice President of Supply Chain, Chris McDonough as their Vice President of Order Fulfillment and Sean Bellucci as their General Manager of ShipBob’s Chicago fulfillment center.
January 29, 2019
How Bethenny Frankel, Ed Mylett, and other successful business titans set themselves apart from the competition
“When e-commerce companies began offering two-day shipping, they created an expectation among consumers. Not only do consumers get their orders faster, but the guaranteed shipping provides a level of confidence and comfort that is expected today — from all businesses. Think through the entire customer experience. For example, if you’re in e-commerce, analyze your order history and customers’ locations. Then distribute your inventory to reduce shipping costs and decrease the time from the order to their doorstep. When you improve the customer experience, you get results.” — Dhruv Saxena, co-founder and CEO of ShipBob Inc.
January 25, 2019
Could Closing Stores Be Good For Business?
Startups are rethinking the old distribution and delivery model. Small businesses and B2B companies often need warehouse space and warehouse management software (WMS) to manage inventory and orders. Both are expensive. Companies like ShipBob connect your online store to its order fulfillment centers, then store your products, process orders and manage deliveries.
January 16, 2019
What We Learned Building ShipBob and Completing YC from Chicago Atrium
I’ve often heard others talk about the downside of running a startup away from Northern California. While there are undeniably some disadvantages to being elsewhere, there are also considerable benefits to growing a company outside the Silicon Valley bubble. Furthermore, many of the challenges that come with building a startup away from the Bay actually make a company stronger and are conducive to finding hires passionate about the mission. To illustrate, here is our story of growing ShipBob 300% YoY, raising $62.5 million, and graduating from Y Combinator—all while based in Chicago and trying to get the best of both worlds.
January 14, 2019
5 Predictions for Chicago’s Tech Ecosystem in 2019
At the end of 2017, when local experts made their predictions for 2018, many predicted the logistics tech industry in Chicago would take off. And in many ways, it did. Chicago’s pillar logistics companies ShipBob, project44, FourKites and Bringg all raised large rounds of funding to help them grow, and nationally, Chicago started to become recognized as a supply chain hub. Looking ahead at 2019, many think the industry will just continue to get stronger.
December 31, 2018
Executives Are Paying Close Attention to These 5 Leadership Trends In 2019–Are You?
We live in a world of instant gratification. Customers demand results faster than ever these days, and the businesses that learn to keep up are the ones that will continue to grow. For leaders, ensuring that “picking up the pace” doesn’t lead to a decline in quality will be crucial. For further elaboration on this, I reached out to Dhruv Saxena, co-founder and CEO of ShipBob. “There has been a major shift in expectations, driven by retail consumers. From two-day shipping of e-commerce orders to near real-time responses for online inquiries, people’s expectations continue to evolve,” he notes.
December 27, 2018
Fantastic fundings: The 10 companies that raised the most in 2018
Investors: Menlo Ventures, Hyde Park Angels, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Y Combinator. The company’s Series C was used to open a new 105,000-square-foot warehouse in Cicero — a facility twice as large as its other locations in Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Brooklyn, New York. The facility is expected to create 100 new jobs during peak shipping season, and ShipBob’s engineering team is also expected to double following the funding. The investment will provide the platform with enhanced shipping capabilities for users.
December 19, 2018
10 startups outside of Silicon Valley to watch in 2019
ShipBob is the definition of a rocketship company. Its annual revenue (which surpassed eight figures in 2017) is on pace to grow 300 percent between 2017 and 2018, and the company went from 60 to 450 employees in about a year and a half. With Amazon‘s growth pressuring more and more businesses to improve their shipping options, fulfillment services like ShipBob will likely find themselves in demand in 2019.
December 17, 2018
Multichannel Merchant’s Top 3PLs 2019
Given the explosion of ecommerce and the increasing number of 3PLs in the marketplace, Multichannel Merchant has created this unique resource to vet 3PL providers as a value-added service for its audience. “3PLs have become an increasingly important resource for ecommerce and direct-to-customer merchants who don’t have the capital to invest in their own distribution networks,” said Mike O’Brien, Senior Content Manager of Multichannel Merchant.
November 29, 2018
5 startup trends that shaped the Midwest in 2018
Three of the largest rounds of funding raised by Chicago startups were in logistics this year. Top VCs across the country are looking to the Midwest for innovation in this space, and they have found it. Project44 closed a $45 million round led by OpenView, ShipBob closed a $40 million led by Menlo Ventures, and FourKites closed a $35 million round led by August Capital. Project44 and FourKites are innovating on end-to-end predictive supply chain visibility, while ShipBob enables small to medium business to offer Amazon Prime-like shipping speeds to their customers.
November 29, 2018
To optimize fulfillment, logistics have to play along
As part of their process, warehouse and fulfillment service ShipBob recommends where merchants put their inventory, said Divey Gulati, co-founder of ShipBob. They look at the customer location concentration and as well as items sold. “Maybe there’s no demand in California for ice scrapers. That’s mostly in Chicago and New York, where you’ll want to offer faster delivery,” Divey told Supply Chain Dive. That way, they minimize the number of shipments, placing items closer to where the customer is located.
November 28, 2019
5 Trends That Will Redefine Retail In 2019
“What happens if customers don’t have to compromise on their buying experience because they get the exact same delivery experience (if not better) on their favorite brand’s website?” asks Dhruv Saxena, CEO of logistics innovator ShipBob. “This is the version of the world which excites us; the power of any individual anywhere to create a brand they are passionate about, to be able to serve and treat their customers the way they would want to be treated.”
November 28, 2018
Mayor Emanuel Announces Local Tech Companies Adding 2,000 Jobs in Chicago
Mayor Rahm Emanuel today announced that 16 local technology companies have added or will be adding a combined 2,000 jobs in Chicago in 2018 and 2019. The tech companies participating in Tech Day 2018 include ShipBob – tech-enabled fulfillment service that allows ecommerce businesses to provide next-day and 2-day shipping from their own websites or other online marketplaces while maintaining full control over their customers’ experiences; 135 jobs.
November 8, 2018
The growth of microbrands threatens consumer-goods giants
Other service providers can pass on economies of scale once available only to consumer-goods giants. Businesses such as ShipBob, a Chicago startup, do something similar with shipping, allowing small brands to offer faster, cheaper deliveries.
November 6, 2018
Robots and software are improving warehouse ROI
ShipBob is concentrating that software investment in a few areas, including its WMS system, picking pathways and TMS. When the final customer is using the checkout page, for example, they use live data and visibility to see if the products are in stock and qualify for free two-day shipping, based on the items selected, their warehouse location, the customer’s address, and the vendor’s rules for free shipping. Their transportation management system can predict USPS delivery time, to deliver more economically while still meeting time demands. “It enables them to offer the Amazon Prime customer experience,” Gulati said.
October 23, 2018
Here are Chicago’s Five Hottest Tech Startups
Chicagoans really love their logistics! ShipBob, founded in 2014, is an “e-commerce fulfillment” service that helps SMEs ship quickly and securely. Last week it won a $40m Series C round from Menlo Ventures, bringing the company’s total funding to $62.5m, with a staff count of over 400. That makes ShipBob one of the logistics tech sector’s most exciting up-and-comers, and cements its place among Chicago’s startup elite. Y Combinator recently placed it 56th of its 100 most valuable startups.
October 19, 2018
Chicago Startup Makes Y Combinator’s List of 100 Most Successful Companies
To give a snapshot of its most successful companies, Y Combinator recently published a list of the top 100 YC companies by valuation. And a Chicago startup cracked the top 60. ShipBob, an e-commerce logistics startup that helps smaller businesses ship their wares with Amazon-like speeds, ranked No. 56 on Y Combinator’s list.
October 17, 2018
Y Combinator Top Companies List – 2018
Here is a list of the top 100 Y Combinator companies by valuation, as of October 2018. We put this list together to help people get to know some of the fastest growing alumni in the YC community. We’re proud to know the founders behind these companies and that we’re a part of their stories.
October 12, 2018
Google ex-CEO, AOL co-founder are putting money into Chicago companies. Here’s why.
Chicago-based e-commerce logistics company ShipBob also raised out-of-state venture capital as part of $40 million in new investments announced last month. ShipBob recently opened a new fulfillment warehouse in Cicero and is pushing to hire 100 people in the next year. Existing investors including Chicago-based Hyde Park Venture Partners participated in the funding round, but California-based Menlo Ventures led it. One of the firm’s partners, Shawn Carolan, joined ShipBob’s board of directors. Carolan also helped with Menlo Ventures’ investment in Uber.
September 20, 2018
The Prime Effect: How Amazon’s Two-Day Shipping Is Disrupting Retail
Amazon’s nominal competitor in online retail, Walmart, also offers a marketplace for third parties to sell their goods; the big difference is, it doesn’t assist them with fulfillment—and forbids them from using Amazon’s fulfillment services. (It’s not uncommon for items purchased on eBay or Google Express to arrive in Amazon boxes.) So some sellers are turning to startups like ShipBob, Flexe and Deliverr. Scale is essential. Mom-and-pop shops and even midsize retailers can no longer assume buyers will put up with getting their goods days later via the U.S. Postal Service. In response, startups are trying to aggregate enough retail customers that they can offer the all-important fixed rates for nationwide two-day shipping.
September 19, 2018
Chicago Inno’s 2018 50 on Fire
Today, we’re officially announcing the 50 people and companies that are heating up Chicago tech. Dhruv Saxena and Divey Gulati, co-founders, ShipBob: Saxena and Gulati founded ShipBob in 2014 with the goal of helping small companies ship their products faster. Four years later, the company has raised more than $62 million, with the help of a $40 million round just in September. In June, the startup made the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Companies to Watch 2018, an annual list that spotlights 25 “emerging leaders in hot corners of the tech industry.”
September 12, 2018
Growing logistics startup ShipBob raises $40 million in Series C, opens new fulfillment center
Growing ecommerce logistics company ShipBob has raised $40 million in Series C funding and opened a new 150,000 square foot fulfillment center in Chicago. This is all part of the startup’s mission to help independent ecommerce businesses battle giants like Amazon. In a world where two-day shipping has shifted from a luxury to an expectation, ShipBob helps ecommerce businesses without their own high tech logistics operations hold their own.
September 6, 2018
ShipBob Raises $40 Million to Back E-Commerce Fulfillment Growth
E-commerce fulfillment startup ShipBob has raised $40 million in new funding to expand the warehousing and technology services it offers small- and medium-size brands to compete with Amazon.com Inc. The Chicago-based company, which launched in 2014, operates five warehouses in major cities where it fulfills customer orders within one to two days for more than 2,000 internet retailers.
September 6, 2018
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.
September 6, 2018
Chicago-based ShipBob lands $40 million investment, opens new Cicero warehouse
With $40 million in new investments announced Thursday, Chicago-based e-commerce logistics company ShipBob is eyeing an expansion — starting with a new fulfillment warehouse in Cicero and a push to hire 100 people in the next year. The startup aims to help small to midsize e-commerce companies ship their products at speeds similar to Amazon. Shipping logistics tends to be the hardest part of launching an e-commerce brand, said Dhruv Saxena, ShipBob’s co-founder and CEO.
September 6, 2018
ShipBob raises $40 million for expansion
ShipBob, which tackled the hard job of bringing Amazon-like shipping service to small and mid-sized companies, raised another $40 million. The five-year-old company had explosive growth last year, when staff increased from about 60 to 400. Much of the hiring came as ShipBob expanded outside Chicago. It now has warehouse operations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas and New York, with plans to add more cities and beef up its technology, sales and distribution staff.
August 22, 2018
The Best E-Commerce Fulfillment Services of 2018
Often called 3PLs, e-commerce fulfillment services have been around for years, managing product distribution and fulfillment for large retail businesses and small mail-order companies. While the services covered here in this roundup provide the same services, they separate themselves from traditional 3PLs because of their concentration on providing fulfillment services for e-commerce retailers.
June 20, 2018
ShipStation Announces Platinum Partnership with ShipBob
ShipStation, the leading web-based e-commerce shipping solution, today announced its Platinum partnership with ShipBob. ShipBob is a logistics company providing e-commerce fulfillment software and the ability for online retailers to offer two-day shipping to its customers. ShipBob aims to help online merchants of every size compete with the biggest retail brands. ShipBob is now part of ShipStation’s Fulfillment Provider Program as a preferred fulfillment partner for ShipStation users.
June 7, 2018
Simplifying eCommerce Returns With Shipping Labels And Instant Credits
Returns can be a headache for everyone involved: merchants, customers and even the logistic middleman. And eCommerce merchants have the added difficulty of not having accessible storefronts for the customer to drop off returns. Shipbob, which started as a way to help merchants distribute online orders, sought to help retailers tackle this challenge by taking on returns through a partnership with Returnly. The decision made sense for the company: “Returns is the natural extension of the eCommerce customer journey,” ShipBob co-founder Dhruv Saxena told PYMNTS.com in an interview.
June 6, 2018
ShipBob Integrates Returnly to Streamline Online Returns Management
Online fulfillment provider ShipBob is the latest company to integrate a returns management solution, choosing as its partner Returnly—a tech firm that helps e-commerce companies accelerate returns and refunds. In what could be a sign of e-commerce’s evolution and maturation, returns management is getting more than its share of attention these days, as third parties innovate to help online merchants gets costs under control and turn a pain point into profits.
June 5, 2018
ShipBob & Returnly Speed Up Returns Processing To Enable Faster Shopper Refunds
ShipBob announced a partnership today with Returnly.com, a leading post-purchase technology provider for online retailers to help expedite online returns and refunds. The integration between ShipBob and Returnly will allow online store owners to seamlessly connect their platforms, sync their return merchandise authorization data, and automatically process returns and refunds from their ShipBob dashboard, making refunds painless for shoppers and merchants alike.
May 16, 2018
ShipBob Announces Order Fulfillment Partnership and Platform Integration with Squarespace
ShipBob is now integrated with Squarespace as the first third-party logistics partner to automate order fulfillment for Squarespace Online Stores. The seamless integration between ShipBob’s technology and Squarespace’s platform allows online store owners to easily connect their store, sync inventory and orders, and manage shipments from ShipBob’s powerful dashboard.
May 9, 2018
7 startups keeping Chicago on the cutting edge of e-commerce
Unlike the other companies on this list, ShipBob does not actually sell products online. Instead, it provides logistical support for companies that do. Last year, the startup raised a $17.5 million Series B round to expand its business of managing inventories and bringing physical products into the hands of e-commerce customers, allowing early-stage startups to focus on other things, like marketing and developing new products.
April 12, 2018
How Smaller Merchants Can Get Amazon-Style Logistics
Gulati helped build ShipBob, which provides merchants with Amazon-style logistics. An end-to-end fulfillment solution, the company provides warehousing for customers and package delivery in one to two business days, along with additional software features that help merchants manage their inventory. To reach merchants, ShipBob integrates with platforms sellers already use.
March 29, 2018
Why 2017 Was Incredible For Chicago Exits And Investments
According to a new report, Chicago continues to be the nation’s leader in investor returns in the US. Though its challenging to predict where emerging and dominant players in the Chicago tech ecosystem will go over time, we are watching companies funded in 2017 like ShipBob (which my firm Hyde Park Angels invested in) for positive outcomes.
March 26, 2018
How ShipBob Became One of Chicago’s Hottest Logistics Startups
Before ShipBob got into Y Combinator, raised more than $22 million in funding, expanded its logistics business to five warehouses across the US, and became one of Chicago’s hottest startups, it began as a couple of guys stopping people outside the post office. Now, as ShipBob continues its fast-paced growth, the startup’s founders say they’re not only building the foundation of a great business for themselves, but also helping others grow their companies more efficiently.
December 19, 2017
5 Chicago VCs predict 2018’s top funding trends
The third industry the VCs said might shine in 2018 is logistics. Ira Weiss, cofounder and general partner at Hyde Park Venture Partners and a clinical professor of accounting and entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, said logistics startups could prosper in 2018 because there’s already some momentum in the space, and he pointed to local companies like FourKites, ShipBob, and Project44.
December 18, 2017
Here’s What to Expect from Chicago Tech in 2018
The third industry that VCs said might shine in 2018 is logistics. Ira Weiss, co-founder and general partner at Hyde Park Venture Partners and a clinical professor of accounting and entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, said logistics startups could prosper in 2018 because there’s already some momentum in the space, pointing to local companies like FourKites, Shipbob and Project44.
November 21, 2017
5 Midwest Industry Trends That Will Shape VC Investing in 2018
Logistics has seen a surge in high-growth companies in the Midwest. With bigger players like Echo Global Logistics and Coyote Logistics establishing the Midwest as a logistics hub, companies like Project44, Logiwa, and FourKites and ShipBob (which my venture firm invested in) have been able to attract investment from major Midwest and national investors while gaining market traction and early adoption quickly.
November 10, 2017
Robots — once thought to be a killer of e-commerce jobs — may actually be saving them
Chicago-based ShipBob this month opened a 57,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Grapevine that processes online orders for about 1,200 e-commerce companies, many of them mom-and-pop independent sellers on Amazon and Wal-Mart’s third party marketplaces.
October 30, 2017
5 Startups That Will Hugely Impact Holiday Shopping (You’ve Probably Never Heard Of)
September 29, 2017
Why Top VCs Are Betting Big On Chicago
Another area of strength for Chicago is the logistics industry, which has given rise to major startup players like ShipBob (HPA investment) and FourKites (HPA investment) that raised rounds from Bain Capital Ventures, and Project44 from Emergence Capital.
September 26, 2017
The Big Problem With Shipping Clothes to Small Towns
One alternative approach is to place fulfillment centers close to where most of one’s customers are (which, of course, tends to be the more populous cities). ShipBob, a logistics startup that works with small businesses, stores inventory in four warehouses — Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco — and works with local carriers in addition to the major shipping companies, allowing it to reach many customers same-day or next-day.
September 14, 2017
Two startup guys who are taking on Amazon
Dhruv Saxena and Divey Gulati spent a lot of time standing in line at the Willis Tower post office in 2013. Boyhood friends fresh out of grad school, the two had launched a side project called SnailMailPics that mailed printed copies of cellphone photos that customers ordered via text message. Technology made the whole operation simple, except for that last step at the post office.
July 13, 2017
Warehouse Startup ShipBob Raises $17.5 Million Amid Expansion Push
ShipBob operates warehouses near city centers, which it says allows it to offer affordable same-day and next-day shipping to online retailers. The company caters mainly to startups and other smaller e-commerce ventures that don’t have the funding to build their own nationwide distribution networks.
July 13, 2019
Warehouse Startup ShipBob Raises $17.5 Million Amid Expansion Push
ShipBob operates warehouses near city centers, which it says allows it to offer affordable same-day and next-day shipping to online retailers. The company caters mainly to startups and other smaller e-commerce ventures that don’t have the funding to build their own nationwide distribution networks.
July 13, 2017
ShipBob gets $17.5 million from Bain, others
ShipBob doesn’t do the actual delivery. That’s done by shippers such as FedEx and UPS. But it does handle packaging and warehousing of products for customers. It’s moved into the software business, providing supply-chain technology to customers, rather than just physical order fulfillment, which the company hopes will protect it from being run over by Amazon’s contract-fulfillment business.
July 13, 2017
ShipBob raises $17.5 million to help small businesses ship stuff faster
Dhruv Saxena, ShipBob’s CEO and co-founder, said companies can get deliveries to customers faster if they’re shipping from small regional warehouses, rather than one central hub. He said companies can, in some cases, get orders to customers same-day or next-day. That can be a major factor for the e-commerce businesses ShipBob serves, which range from 150 orders a month to more than 10,000 a day
July 13, 2017
ShipBob raises $17.5 million to help ecommerce businesses with shipping and logistics
For businesses selling across multiple sales channels — like Amazon, Shopify, and eBay — ShipBob acts as an omni-channel order management tool that lets them have visibility across all channels using only one service
June 14, 2017
E-commerce logistics startup raises $17.5 million
It’s likely the logistics industry will be disrupted by more startups like ShipBob, as demand for free and fast shipping heightens. Large logistics companies have traditionally geared their services toward large retailers, providing them with added services and the aforementioned volume shipping discounts.
April 8, 2017
Amazon’s Free Shipping Pushes Small Retailers, Delivery Firms to Compete
Just north of Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, ShipBob, which opened its first warehouse less than two years ago, stores merchandise from over 300 retailers in rows of neatly stacked white plastic bins. Workers walk the aisles, plucking out jars of artisanal mustard and organic conditioner, which they hand off to packers who prep the items for shipping.
June 16, 2016
ShipBob raises $4 million to help small retailers ship goods like Amazon Prime
A Chicago-based startup called ShipBob has raised $4 million in Series A funding to help small businesses and sole proprietors with an outsourced packaging and shipping service. Hyde Park Venture Partners led the round.
June 16, 2016
ShipBob lands $4 million, led by Hyde Park Venture Partners
ShipBob, a shipping provider for small e-commerce companies, has raised another $4 million. The company arranges packing and shipping for small companies that sell on various online platforms…
May 2, 2016
ShipBob finds a place serving crowdfunding success stories
Many of these people have no experience with logistics or shipping,” said Anthony Watson, ShipBob’s head of business development. “It’s really easy, on their end, to create a campaign or open up a website, but when they get to the point of actually selling their products and figuring how to get it to their consumer, there’s really no turnkey solution for those founders and small businesses.
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