Darkstore, the tech-driven fulfillment solution to enable e-commerce companies to offer same-day delivery, just raised a $21 million Series B round led by EQT Ventures.
The deal will bring EQT principal Laura Yao to Darkstores board of directors.This Series B round comes less than one year after Darkstore raised a $7.5 million Series A round.
In total, Darkstore has raised more than $30 million in funding.Darkstore works by exploiting excess capacity in storage facilities, malls and bodegas and enables them to be fulfillment centers with just a smartphone.
The idea is that brands without local inventory can store it in a Darkstore and then ship out same-day.
Darkstorecharges brands across three areas: fulfillment, storage and delivery.Consumer expectations are relentless, Yao told TechCrunch via email.
We want things now, now, now.
Obviously, its in a brands best interest to be able to meet those demands.
The amazing team at Darkstore has built a platform-agnostic, cost-effective way for brands to do so, and in the process has unlocked a new revenue stream for urban infrastructure, and created valuable partnerships with last-mile delivery services.Currently, Darkstore has more than 600 fulfillment centers across 39 cities in the United States , including Honolulu, Toledo, Ohio and Omaha, Neb.Darkstore is unable to share the full roster of its customers, but it has worked with the likes of Nike, premium headphones maker Master - Dynamic, mattress startup Tuft - Needle and others.
With the additional funding, Darkstore plans to grow the general team, as well as the management team.Yao added, Weve worked with Lee [founder Lee Hnetinka] and the team for over a year and have been able to see this Darkstore flywheel come to life, and are excited to see what the future holds.