Alibaba’s fund joins series A round for Hong Kong logistics startup Pickupp

Pickupp, an on-demand delivery platform, announced that it has raised a series A round from Vision Plus Capital, Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, Cyberport Macro Fund, Swire Properties New Ventures, and SparkLabs Taipei.

Photo credit: Pickupp

Founded in December 2016, Pickupp began providing last-mile delivery services in the middle of 2017. It provides point-to-point delivery options for businesses, including one- to two-hour express services and four-hour delivery, as well as one- to three-day delivery.

It also operates the ecommerce platform Shop On Pickupp to give businesses online and payment support.

The Hong Kong-headquartered company experienced a “surge” in demand as a result of Covid-19, the company told Tech in Asia. It claims to have witnessed an average 70% growth in user sign-ups and a 50% increase in orders during the lockdown period in Singapore.

With over 80,000 delivery agents across Asia, Pickupp said it has provided logistics support to over 10,000 businesses across multinational corporations and logistics giants and in the retail and ecommerce sectors. Some of its customers include fashion company Charles & Keith, healthcare company Osim International, and online food catering and meal plan firm Grain.

It currently has operations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan.

With the new funds, the company said it will continue to diversify its offerings to digital-first businesses, as well as extend its footprint to 10 major markets across Asia Pacific within the next five years.

According to a report, the last-mile delivery market in the Asia Pacific is expected to reach US$2.3 billion by 2027, increasing by a compound annual growth rate of 19% from US$500.3 million in 2019.

Some players in the space include Lalamove, which closed US$300 million in a series D round last year from Hillhouse Capital and Sequoia China, as well as GoGoX (formerly GoGoVan).