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DELIVERY SERVICE STARTUP WeBringg has bagged €650,000 in funding from private investors to help it deal with a spike in growth in the UK.
The Dublin-based firm, which was founded in 2015, provides same-day delivery services to online retailers and restaurants.
WeBringg’s service, which was launched in mid-2016, now provides delivery services for takeaway ordering system JustEat and a handful of retailers across Dublin, Cork and Galway. Limerick will be added in the coming months.
The firm also has operations in Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff, with an expansion into Australia and New Zealand planned for this year.
Speaking to Fora, WeBringg co-founder and chief executive Sean Murray said the company has just raised a round of investment worth €650,000 due to “an immediate need for funding”.
The UK has probably gone a little bit quicker than we expected, to be honest. It raises headaches obviously – the workload increases before the headcount increases, but you just get on with it.
According to Murray, six private investors committed funds to the round, including John Purdy, the co-founder and head of Ergo, one of Ireland’s biggest indigenous IT firms.
Despite the injection of cash, Murray said WeBringg will need to source another round of investment soon.
“We’re looking at a raise in excess of €5 million. We’re three months into that process, and I would imagine it would be done and dusted by November time.
“We have enough (funds) to cover us for another few months but we potentially have some really big clients coming on board this year.
If, for argument’s sake, they give us a contract for London and Birmingham and they need an extra 3,000 guys on the road, well then we’ll have an immediate need for a lot more cash.
WeBringg currently has about 3,000 drivers on its system, spread across the Irish, UK, Australian and New Zealand markets.
Murray said the firm needs to increase Irish driver numbers by nearly a third this year and boost numbers in the UK by 65% to keep up with demand.
These drivers are not directly employed by the firm. They connect to WeBringg’s platform to select delivery jobs available and take a cut of the delivery fee paid to the startup.
WeBringg has a staff of 22 based in its offices in Chapelizod. Murray said the firm plans to increase its headcount to 35 by the end of this year.
How it works
In recent years, same-day delivery has become a key selling point for e-commerce behemoth Amazon, which has used its flagship Amazon Prime service to tighten its grip on the online retail market.
However, WeBringg has tried to get a jump on the tech giant in Ireland, where Amazon is yet to roll out the same-day service.
WeBringg’s system can be integrated into any e-commerce website, and its fleet of drivers, who take a commission from deliveries, transport the goods ordered online.
Murray said the startup, which has a partnership with JustEat, gets a lot of its business from food delivery. However, he added that other aspects of the business are growing fast.
“We’re now at a stage where we are breaking it down into various verticals. Our website will be updated soon enough to have a page on each vertical – takeaway, pharmacy, grocery, fashion and electronics.
“We do see a lot of business from takeaway, but the retail side of things is catching up now and pharmacy in particular is starting to take off.”
Written by Killian Woods and posted on Fora.ie
Written by Fora Staff and posted on TheJournal.ie
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Can’t believe this is only being implemented in the US when it’s been well documented in Europe. Another one that’s just been realised in the past 2-3 years is giving them a soother. This again drives the percentage down lower still as they reckon using a soother helps the baby regulate their breathing.
I know someone who lost a baby to SIDS but still insists it’s fine for babies to sleep on their front because she was always placed on her front and her mother’s a nurse. Apparently studies have shown it’s fine, but I think you’ll find a study to support anything.
Sounds like a coping mechanism. Poor woman.
Any articles not from AFP? Any non-American viewpoints on these sites?
AFP is Agence France Presse. Cheese eating surrender monkeys instead of hot dog eating blubber monkeys.
When was placing a baby front way down ever a good idea.
They do in the hospital especially if baby has a lot of mucous, obviously this is completely supervised
General concern was that if you left a baby on its back it could choke on its own vomit so there was some thought behind it… Parents predating 1992 weren’t idiots..
I don’t know why you would put a baby in a room on it’s own?
“Other strategies include offering a child a pacifier at nap time and night as well as ensuring they have all the recommended vaccinations” – this is a hard hitting report that doesn’t half speak the obvious.
My babies always slept better once they moved into their own room. I think I was keeping them awake and vice versa. But for my own peace of mind I purchased an Angel Mat which beeps to let you know if baby stops breathing.
We bought the ‘Angel Care’ monitor with the mattress sensor and it went off twice for our first born and once for our second born. One of the times it went off for our first born we jumped out of bed and I turned on the light – the baby didn’t move. My wife stirred/shook the child and we heard him take a massive intake of breath. I am glad we spent the 100 euros on the Angel Care monitor. It is more expensive than other monitors, but it does go off it your baby stops moving/breathing.
So how are you supposed to keep a baby warm if you live in a house that gets really cold overnight and you can’t use a blanket? Just curious
Sleep suit, gro bag or similar..
have your say