Ecommerce delivery business Shutl has won investment of $2m (£1.3m), which it plans to spend on preparations for a US launch early next year.
The money, which comes from new investor the UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund and existing investors GeoPost
and Hummingbird Ventures, will also be put into expanding the Shutl engineering team and signing up new retail partners.
Retailers including Argos, Maplin and Aurora Fashions brands Oasis and Warehouse currently use the Shutl service to offer their customers delivery from their local store within ninety minutes of purchase or in a convenient one-hour time slot.
“Since launching in 2010 we’ve focused on providing a service that blows away shoppers’ expectations,” said Tom Allason, founder and chief executive of Shutl. “We’ve spent this last year taking Shutl national across the UK. Now we are ready for the US, a market that we estimate will be worth around ¢26bn by 2016.”
Shutl says the investment from UPS’s private equity strategic investment arm, demonstrates the global delivery company’s interest in exploring different options for helping retailers to serve online customers.
