These days, it feels like we’re all swimming in packages. Between the rise of services like Instacart and Freshly — not to mention Amazon — homes and lobbies are inundated with daily deliveries.
The acceleration of e-commerce amid the pandemic has meant big success for Fetch, a last-mile package delivery service for apartment complexes. The company said it delivered about 3.5 million packages across the 16 cities it serves in 2020 and is on track to deliver more than 8 million packages by the end of this year.
Now, with $60 million of fresh funding in its coffers ($50 million in equity plus $10 million in venture debt), the company is poised to grow even more. Ocelot Capital led the Series C round, and the debt facility was provided by Signature Bank.
Founder and CEO Michael Patton says he aims to triple Fetch’s business in the next 18 months. The company also plans to open in 24 new markets over the next two years, including cities like Philadelphia, San Francisco and Miami. To keep up with this rapid expansion, Fetch is also growing its team with dozens of open tech positions at its Austin headquarters and offices around the country.
Fetch isn’t the only company in this space experiencing this level of growth. Bringg, a startup that handles delivery logistics, hit a $1 billion valuation last month, and Uber has made successful forays into both freight trucking and last-mile delivery. But Andrew Townsend, managing member at Ocelot, says Fetch is on its way to becoming the “gold standard” for last-mile delivery in apartment buildings.
“Fetch is the last-mile delivery solution that the apartment industry has always needed,” Townsend said in a statement. “With the acceleration in e-commerce volumes, it is more apparent than ever that limited capacity parcel storage systems are no longer viable, and Fetch is the only long-term parcel storage solution that meets the needs of both multifamily operators and residents.”
Here’s how it works. Fetch receives and stores packages from any carrier at its facility, then notifies the given resident. The resident then uses the Fetch app to schedule a delivery either on the same day or in the future, at which time a Fetch delivery person will bring the package directly to the resident’s door. Fetch partners with property management companies so they can offer the service as an amenity to residents, removing the need for apartment staff to handle it manually.
The company says it currently works with about 650 apartment communities, delivering an average of 20,000 packages daily. And as e-commerce continues to accelerate, it’s unlikely that Fetch will slow down anytime soon.
“We’re excited about what this fundraise means for our company in terms of our ability to extend our package management solution to more cities, more apartment communities and more renters across the country,” Patton said in a statement. “The industry has recognized Fetch as the one package model capable of carrying multifamily into the future, and we’re honored that our investors feel the same.”
