Instabox acquires Porterbuddy
Instabox has entered an agreement to acquire Porterbuddy, the fast-growing Norwegian shipping service.
The acquisition substantiates Instabox’s ongoing investment into the Norwegian market and facilitates continued high growth in the region. Instabox will now combine best-in-class locker deliveries with Porterbuddy’s innovative technology and approach to home deliveries in all markets. At the same time Verdane, Porterbuddy’s majority owner, will roll its stake in the former and invest new capital into Instabox.
Instabox, a Swedish next-gen technology company transforming last-mile deliveries for e-commerce, continues to grow rapidly. In 2021, revenues exceeded 700 million SEK and almost tripled vs 2020. Alongside substantial organic growth, through the continued rollout of automated parcel lockers across Instabox’s existing geographies and expansion of the Instabox e-merchant base, 2021 saw the execution of a number of further growth initiatives by the Company, including the acquisition of Red je Pakketje in the Netherlands as well as recently announced plans to enter the German market. The acquisition of last-mile home delivery service Porterbuddy will further expand Instabox’s footprint in the Norwegian market and support the ramp-up of home delivery services in the Nordics and new markets.
“We’ve had our eyes on Porterbuddy for a while, as one of the most innovative last-mile companies in the Nordics. I’m particularly impressed by their 4.9 out of 5.0 user rating which means that they share our obsession with user satisfaction, as well as their home delivery tech stack which I believe is one of the strongest out there. We couldn’t be more excited to join forces with the Porterbuddy team as we continue to expand in new markets”, says Alexis Priftis, CEO and Founder of Instabox.
Porterbuddy currently reaches about 60 percent of the population in Norway and delivers in the greater Oslo area as well as along the coast to Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen, and Trondheim in the north, with further plans for geographical expansion within the country. Porterbuddy delivers parcels from popular merchants such as Varner, Jollyroom, Komplett, and Farmasiet. Instabox’s customer portfolio includes well-known brands like blush.no, Boozt, and Lyko.
“We have been looking to strengthen our competitive edge for some time, and Instabox is a great partner with complementary skills. We are impressed by the Instabox team, its market leader position in Sweden, and its continued tech-based high growth performance. The combined service offering will create a clear Nordic market leader and unique products and
services to merchants and consumers in the time to come, says Henrik Gerner-Mathisen, CEO and Founder of Porterbuddy”, and he continues,
“We will continue to drive sustainability in the industry as well as challenging the established with innovative business models, products, and services.”
Porterbuddy’s owner Verdane, which together with Canica owns a majority stake in the business, will reinvest its entire proceeds from the transaction and double down with new capital as well, in doing so becoming one of Instabox’s larger shareholders.
“We want to thank the Porterbuddy team for a fantastic journey together so far and are pleased to join the Instabox team on its journey to transform last-mile deliveries for e-commerce. With two of Europe’s most forward-leaning solutions for home delivery coming together, the Verdane team will draw on its experience from scaling more than 40 digital consumer businesses to support Instabox as it moves to provide greener and more user-friendly options,” comments Christian Jebsen, partner at Verdane.
