Australia parcel delivery startup Sendle has teamed up with Asia-Pacific transport and logistic provider Toll to help small businesses get things delivered quickly and cheaply.
Sendle co-founder and CEO James Moody says the new deal will allow the startup to compete with the likes of Australia Post in terms of reach, price and customer service.
“It lets us tap into Toll’s delivery network. We can deliver anywhere in Australia now, and for better prices than lining up at the post office,” Moody says.
Sendle aims to provide a frictionless delivery service targeted especially at the smaller players.
“The whole purpose of Sendle is unlocking that big business infrastructure and making that available to consumers, and particularly small businesses,” he says.
Toll will now be joining Fastway and Couriers Please as Sendle partners.
Toll is a Melbourne-based transportation and logistics company with a network of more than 1000 sites across 50 countries.
Luke Condon, who is head of Toll consumer delivery, says the partnership will help expand their customer base.
“Today’s partnership with Sendle allows us to provide the Toll experience and delivery service to a large number of small business customers, who we haven’t been able to work with in the past,” Condon says.
The on-demand delivery space is becoming increasingly competitive in Australia, with many startups joining more established, traditional services in trying to disrupt the industry with technology.
Moody says Sendle is unique in its focus though.
“We’re focusing on part of the market that not many others focus on,” he says.
“Not too many other people care about the much smaller market, so there’s essentially a monopoly forcing people to line up at the post office.”
“Our philosophy is that it’s no longer good enough to have an 80% solution for 100% of the market,” Moody says.
“You should have a 100% solution for a smaller part of the market. We sacrifice market size so we can create beautiful solution.”
Sendle will now have over 3000 delivery vehicles at their disposal, delivering over 70 million packages annually.
The startup offers door-to-door delivery within 25km for $9.75 and for $24.75 nationally.
It launched in November last year, and closed a $1.8 million seed funding round in April.
While the focus is squarely local at the moment, Moody says they’ll be looking to expand overseas in the long-term future.
“Our plan is to get Australia really right, and to make a beautiful solution for Australia,” he says.
“What we’re doing here can be replicated and we have aspirations to go further. Watch this space.”
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Denham Sadler is a former editor of StartupSmart. He was previously a journalist at the publication and has worked as a freelancer for the Guardian, the Saturday Paper and the ABC. In his spare time he likes puns and jaffles.
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