About one and a half years ago, the idea for Eurosender was born out of frustration with the complexity and cost of shipping between European cities. Unhappy with the limited and expensive options available to individuals by courier companies, the Slovenian founders behind Eurosender decided to create a startup that would make the shipping industry more accessible and customer oriented.
After launching in May 2014, Eurosender quickly negotiated partnerships with all major European couriers (such as UPS, DPD, GLS, ACS, DB Schenker, etc.), enabling them to offer shipping rates that are up to 70% lower than standard courier fares. Wanting to grow their business on the European market yet not finding the adequate support in the Slovenian startup community, the founders (Jan, Tim and Žiga) started searching for a more stimulating environment to continue to grow their business in. A couple of months later, Eurosender became the first Slovenian company to be accepted in the ProSiebenSat 1 accelerator, based in Munich, Germany. Through the intensive programme and the continuous support of the German startup community, Eurosender secured pre-seed investments from ProSiebenSat 1 and Silicon Gardens, of €25K and €40K, respectively. The initial investment and network built through the accelerator proved vital in establishing market presence in key European markets and allowed Eurosender to expand its concept to include B2B customers.
Recently, Eurosender successfully closed its seed round with an investment of €220K, at a €3.6 million valuation, from a consortium of Slovenian entrepreneurs, with expertise in digital platforms, finance and management. With the new capital, Eurosender has unveiled plans of teaming up with renowned German marketplace Markt.de and online purchase organiser itembase through shipping plug-ins.
With the support of relationships built within the European startup and business community, Eurosender was able to transform from a local company catering primarily to students and expats, to a competitive door-to-door shipping service for the broader European market, with add-ons and company partnerships within the span of a year. In the near future, Eurosender aims to expand their concept and partnerships to take advantage of the opportunities the shipping industry and budding European startup scene have to offer.
Find this interesting? Be sure to sign up for our free weekly EU-Startups Newsletter so that you can stay up-to-date!