A local startup called Parcelninja has just attracted R20m in investment funding through C5 Holdings, a UK-based specialist data and cyber security fund manager.
That sum is, according to the release we received, “…one of the biggest investments in South Africa’s online retail market”. While it doesn’t quite rival the R1bn cash injection received by ecommerce giant Takealot (via Fin24), it’s still a decent chunk of change.
Parcelninja is focused on providing warehousing and delivery services to the local ecommerce market. It was started in 2013 by Justin Drennan, Ryan Drennan and Terence Murphy under the WantItAll.co.za umbrella, and launched its first commercial services in October, 2014.
Parcelninja refers to itself as an “ecommerce enabler”, offering services to South Africa ecommerce websites that reduce overheads and improve delivery times. It also encourages entrepreneurs to start their own etail websites, as Parcelninja does a lot of the heavy lifting for them.
“Ecommerce is growing in South Africa, and Parcelninja is there to assist online shopping companies by removing the most expensive and time consuming parts of the business,” said Drennan.
The trio have a lot of experience in the ecommerce field already, having started WantItAll, contributing to Superbalist’s growth (which was later sold to Takealot) and even helping Makro to manage its ecommerce services.
Most encouragingly, all of Parcelninja’s systems have been developed in South Africa and their design has been based on the best global ecommerce strategy implementations.
Parcelninja is already serving a host of South African ecommerce websites, including Superbalist, WantItAll, Grabit, DCStore, Juniva, Action Gear, Kids Emporium and Flook from their 4 500 square meter warehouse located in Linbro Park, Sandton.
