New York startup Bond, formed in 2019, has raised $15 million in a funding round from contributors Lightspeed Venture Partners, MizMaa Ventures and TLV Partners, according to reports. The startup’s mission is to provide eCommerce companies with delivery and distribution center services — it has developed infrastructure and tech to let direct-to-consumer brands quickly deliver products, and more efficiently accept returns.
Bond’s services aim to help small businesses with those tasks to keep up with giants like Amazon, which can easily get products to customers within a day or so. It gives those small businesses access to on-demand services and small distribution centers, located in neighborhoods near their deliveries, helping them to get a leg up on their larger competitors.
The firm also offers an application programming interface (API), which companies can program into their own eCommerce apps or websites. Bond can integrate with popular apps like Shopify, Shippo, Magento and WooCommerce as well.
With the various points of connection, Bond customers can gain access to “last-mile” delivery services, which means deliveries can get to the purchasers as quickly as possible. To aid in that, Bond offers three-hour same-day delivery if orders are placed before 1 p.m. each day, and for the next day if orders come in later. Deliveries can be tracked in real time, and customers have the option of letting someone collect an item if they want to send it back.
Bond currently manages 15,000 deliveries a month, covering everything from mattresses to groceries. Its success is indicative of the growing trend of customers enjoying online purchases, with online retail surging over the last few years.
In addition, Bond has begun opening physical locations around New York City. It manages delivery and storage for more than 30 brands near New York from distribution centers in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Bond also partners with third parties for delivery services in Queens and New Jersey, with plans to target new neighborhoods and other U.S. areas in 2020 and beyond.