Parcelport plans expansion into Southeast Asia – CEO

by David Maida in Auckland for Mergermarket

Parcelport, an Auckland, New Zealand-based logistics software company, is looking to expand its business into Southeast Asia, CEO Jimmy Wu told Mergermarket.

Parcelport is planning to set up an office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia first because the CEO has some contacts there and is close to Singapore where he might be able to raise capital, Wu said. Malaysia also has government centres to assist with foreign investment, and Wu and his team will be traveling there in 1Q18, he added.

Parcelport, a privately held company, recently partnered with global transport and logistics group TNT to service New Zealand exporters, Wu said.

Parcelport closed a funding round in November with Zino Ventures and Ice Angles. The proceeds are funding the expansion and allowing it to consolidate and grow its business in New Zealand. The amount was undisclosed but is enough to fund the anticipated expansion for two years, he said.

Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam would be the next for the company’s expansion due to their growing middle class, Wu stated. Southeast Asia also has a strong emerging e-commerce market selling to North America, Europe and China, which Parcelport is working to service, he added.

Parcelport focuses on servicing small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) while its larger competitors focus on bigger businesses. An SME would place its customer’s consignment order with Parcelport which would assign the job to the appropriate courier company for delivery, Wu noted. Parcelport calculates the freight cost, prints tickets and shipping labels for the courier, and tracks the delivery.

Wu founded the company in 2011 which now has 10 employees in its Auckland office. Its customer engagement is contracted out to a local contact centre.

Wu owns 70% of the company with the rest owned by seed investors.