Parcel Monkey secures new funding

The Parcel Monkey Group, the UK e-commerce service business, has secured significant new funding arranged by private equity boutique Frost Brooks. The Parcel Monkey Group, established by e-commerce entrepreneur Nav Ramiah, is a fast-expanding e-commerce services business. Its parcel delivery service, Parcel Monkey gives customers access to cheaper delivery rates in the UK. Parcel Monkey achieves discounts from its partner premium courier companies such as DHL, Parcel Force and City Link, by grouping customers’ shipments and booking them through one account, passing these savings on to its customers.

Parcel Monkey has 300,000 registered customers and is facilitating over 600,000 parcel deliveries.The company offers parcel delivery services within the UK and over 255 International destinations.

Parcel Monkey’s sister services, Cloud Fulfilment, which launched earlier this year and Kong, which will be launched at the e-Commerce Expo this week, are designed to help e-commerce businesses grow whatever their size. Cloud Fulfilment provides pay-as-you-go product storage, pick-and-pack and dispatch service and offers a multi-channel fulfilment platform that links with existing sales channels such as eBay, Amazon and customers own websites.

Kong is an e-commerce platform, giving users the ability to create and customise their own online store, process payments, and ship parcels/goods within the UK and internationally. It is also already integrated with Parcel Monkey and Cloud Fulfilment. It includes Parcel Monkey’s free multi-channel management and carrier selection software, Kong also integrates with payment gateways. Customers can build their website and start selling that same day.

E-commerce is the fastest growing retail market in Europe, with sales in the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, The Netherlands, Italy, Poland and Spain expected to reach a combined total of £111.2 billion in 2014 (€155.3 bn or $212.8 bn), according to the Centre for Retail Research, which provides research and analysis of the retail and service sectors in Britain, Europe and globally.

The European online market is dominated by the UK, Germany and France which together are responsible for 81.3% of European sales in these eight countries. Last year the UK’s e-commerce market enjoyed the second highest growth – beaten only by Germany – of close to 17% to £38.8 billion and this year it is forecast to grow some 16% to close to £45 billion.

Frost Brooks has a strong sector focus on e-commerce, tech and online businesses, investing between £1-10 million of capital in scalable, high-growth companies with international aspirations.

Nav Ramiah, CEO, The Parcel Monkey Group, commented:

“This is a great deal for us and I think it’s a great statement of faith in the business and its excellent potential that we have succeeded in securing this investment. Frost Brooks, with the investors and advisors they bring with them, will make a huge contribution to our business and help to accelerate our growth. We are on track to be thebiggest online parcel delivery service in the UK and we have some exciting new services that we are about to launch. E-commerce is one of the most exciting and high-growth areas of the UK economy and last year was the second fastest expanding market in Europe so it offers us great opportunities to build and scale the business.”

Miles Frost, Senior Partner, Frost Brooks, commented:

“We are delighted to have completed our first deal and we believe we could not have started with a better business than Parcel Monkey. It has a distinctive, market-leading proposition, innovative new services and we are sure has an exciting and successful future. Nav is the most impressive e-commerce entrepreneur we have met and the new investment will enable him and his team to accelerate the growth of the business and realise their vision of building the business into one of the UK’s leading e-commerce companies.Frost Brooks has a strong sector focus on established e-commerce, tech and online businesses and as we are not tied to any deal platform or have any outside investors, we can decide the timing of our investments and exits based on what is best for both our businesses and investors.”