Qourier, which touts itself as the ‘Uber for logistics’, has just bagged a seed round of US$626,000 to boost its service

The already saturated delivery-service space in the tiny city state of Singapore is about to get even more competitive.

Today, same-day delivery startup Qourier has raised S$890,000 (US$626,000) seed round to bolster its market share.

Participating investors include Japanese technology company, Startia Inc., and private investors including Alex Tan (Regional CIO, DB Schenker Asia Pacific) and Eric Dadoun (Impiro).

Qourier will use the newly-raised capital to expand its teams and grow its service, as well as upgrade its platform to include smart notifications/recommendations to increase drivers’ efficiencies, open API integrations, knowledge center.

It will also be looking into moving into a bigger office space. Recently, it also redesigned its mobile app.

Founded in 2014, Qourier operates on an ‘Uber’ model, meaning it works with freelancers and other external courier companies to fulfil clients’ requests. Currently, it claims to have over 5,000 freelancers in its fleet.

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To qualify as a Qourier agent, one must be at least 16 years old. Domestic shipments can be carried out via vans, cars, bikes, as well as public transport – so it is not necessary to own a vehicle.

And while Qourier has to compete with a deluge of other Singaporean logistics startups which also offer same day deliveries, it says it is able to distinguish itself with its competitive pricing model.

“Our wide spectrum of delivery modes gives us flexibility in costs and assignments,” said Qourier co-founder Wong Yongjie, in an email to e27.

“That makes us the most cost effective [service] against competitors such as GogoVan and LalaMove, which only offer deliveries via vans and bikes, and CarPal, which only  do same day delivery via cars,” he added.

A quick check on GogoVan‘s and Qourier‘s website revealed that the former’s delivery charges start from S$7 (US$5), while the latter begins at S$5 (US$3.50).

Another point of differentiation is that it offers international deliveries, which it conducts through DHL — and also at a competitive rate.

“For international deliveries, we brokered a heavily-discounted contract, at 70-80 per cent off, with DHL (more partners to come soon) by leveraging on the strength of our 500+ clientele base. We then pass off these savings to our customers who may be hard-pressed to negotiate even a 20 per cent discount, and there is no minimum volume required,” said Wong.

Qourier’s clientele includes businesses such as Eu Yan Sang, 99.co, Expedia, Toys “R” Us, ERA, Airfrov, Lara J, Play E, Prada, SG PC Mart, Rewardz, A Better Florist, Qisahn, and Aviva.

For non same-day deliveries, Qourier is looking at collaborating with other logistics startups such as NinjaVan to roll out this offering so that both companies can fulfill each other’s overflow and support their collective customers with different service levels.

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Image Credit: Qourier

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