Riga-based startup Swotzy has recently raised a substantial amount of €500K in a pre-seed funding round led by Black Pearls VC, and their previous investor FIRSTPICK from Lithuania also participated. This comes shortly after they received an initial investment of €90,000 just four months earlier. Swotzy specializes in offering software for shipping services, particularly for eCommerce businesses. The funding will be directed towards speeding up Swotzy’s product development, solidifying its position in the Baltic market, and initiating the creation of advanced data analysis tools. Swotzy’s main objective is to enhance its product offering, giving its customers the tools to refine their shipping strategies and enhance the overall quality of last-mile delivery services.
Swotzy began in Latvia when Lauris, Swotzy’s co-founder and CEO, started to spot inefficiencies in the last-mile delivery market while working at Printful (still the only Latvian Unicorn). By researching the industry more, he realised that last-mile delivery challenges equally affected both large corporations and small businesses. Lauris spotted a gap, and envisioned a solution that could assist businesses globally. Believing firmly that companies should compete on product and not shipping, the idea for Swotzy was born.
The software helps businesses improve their shipping strategies by assisting them in choosing the most suitable carriers for their deliveries. The unique feature is that businesses can make these choices without the hassle of dealing with complex contracts, integrations, and partnerships. The software not only helps in reducing shipping costs but also provides valuable insights into delivery performance and the best ways to set up carrier services.
The rapid growth of the global last-mile delivery market is making it more difficult for businesses to navigate it. According to Insight Ace Analytics report, last-mile market size was valued at $151.87B in 2022. And with projections indicating a surge to $357.45B by 2031, there’s a pressing demand for innovative solutions. Equipped with cutting-edge tools and insights, Swotzy aims to guide businesses through the dynamic growth of the last-mile delivery market and serve the evolving needs of their customers better.
The pre-seed round funding was led by Black Pearls VC and joined by previous investor, the Lithuanian FIRSTPICK. The funds will be used to accelerate Swotzy’s product development, strengthen the company’s foothold in the Baltic market, and initiate work on data analysis tools. Swotzy aims to improve its product offering, enabling its customers to optimise shipping strategies and improve last-mile delivery services.
“This pre-seed investment really confirms that it’s not just us seeing the big problem we’re trying to solve—VCs see it too. They understand that by staying focused on providing valuable solutions to our customers, we can ramp up our operations. Moreover, they see how these additional resources can fuel this progression even faster,” says Lauris Rutkis, co-founder and CEO of Swotzy. “Getting another cash injection so soon really bolsters our confidence to keep going full steam ahead, but now with some extra firepower. When you look at the current lay of the land in the investment world, to attract such investment before we’ve even really started making serious revenue is a great achievement and responsibility at the same time. It just goes to show how much belief there is in what we’re set out to build.”
Swotzy is delighted to announce that this round of investment also means that Jarosław Pilarczyk from Black Pearls VC and Andra Bagdonaitė from FIRSTPICK will join the company’s Supervisory Board, infusing new insights and experience into Swotzy’s leadership team.
The Partner of Black Pearls VC, Aleksander Dobrzyniecki, comments, ”We are excited to expand our Latvian-based portfolio with the addition of Swotzy. This superb team originating from a local unicorn, Printful, and Nordigen, our ex-portfolio company acquired by GoCardless, is a testament to the growing maturity of the ecosystem. As alumni of these well-known companies, Lauris, Kristians & Jekabs, along with the team, are embarking on a new ambitious project that is heavily rooted in the pains of shipping & last-mile delivery they experienced first-hand in their respective careers. We are proud to lead this round and support them to build another category-defining company from the Baltics.”
FIRSTPICK’s Andra also weighs in, “We made our initial investment in Swotzy in March, and since then we have been impressed with the team’s speed of execution and commitment to building a global company. Having started Swotzy as a hobby project in early 2023, the management team has left their full-time jobs, built the initial version of the product, onboarded the first 30 paying clients, and are about to onboard all major couriers in the 3 Baltic states. The additional funding will accelerate this growth even further, and we are glad to join the round alongside Black Pearls.”
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